Move FM Global News

DUBLIN, Ireland – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is visiting Mali in western Africa, and Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa this week, where he is meeting with members of the Irish Defence Forces and Irish NGOs.

He is also paying a visit to a UNHCR refugee camp.

The Taoiseach was scheduled to meet with the Malian President and the President and Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

Minister of State with responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe, is accompanying the Taoiseach to Mali. 

On Sunday they visited the EU Training Mission to Mali (EUTM), where they met members of the Irish Defence Forces serving with the EUTM whose mission is to improve the capacity of the Malian Armed Forces. From a security perspective, the EUTM is one of the most challenging missions for the Irish Defence Forces. 

In Ethiopia, the Taoiseach was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Sahle-Work Zewde.

He will also slated to meet with a number of Irish NGOs operating in Ethiopia, as well as attending a reception with the Irish community and visiting the UNESCO world heritage site in Lalibela, where he was scheduled to launch a new partnership initiative on cultural heritage between the governments of Ireland and Ethiopia. 

To end his tour, the Taoiseach will travel to a UNHCR refugee camp for Eritrean refugees and visit Irish Aid funded projects in northern Ethiopia. In partnership with Ethiopian government agencies and UN institutions, Ireland has been operating a development programme since 1994. The programme is Ireland’s largest anywhere in the world, amounting to €30 million in 2018, and a planned €32 million in 2019.