Oslo will contribute soldiers to the Takuba taskforce in Mali, a special European unit designed to help the country’s army battle jihadists, the Norwegian government has announced.

“Norway will for the first time provide soldiers to Takuba in Mali,” the defence ministry said in a statement late Tuesday.

“In the following months, a small number of soldiers will be sent as part of the Swedish detachment.”

A member of NATO but not the EU, Norway will become the ninth country to take part in Takuba, an operation that aims to play a central role in the fight against jihadists in the Sahel region after the French military scales down its presence.

France, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Sweden have all provided soldiers to the taskforce. Denmark has pledged to do so in 2022.

Military forces have for nearly a decade been battling jihadist insurgents in the Sahel, an arid and volatile region that stretches across Africa under the Sahara desert and spans half a dozen countries.