WARSAW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) – The Czech Republic sent a group of 34 military servicemen to Mali to join a military operation against Islamist militants in the north of the country, Czech news agency CTK reported.

The senate of the Czech Republic voted on Wednesday to send a contingent of 50 military servicemen to Mali for the term of 15 months. Their mission will officially begin in April.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said his country’s soldiers would be deployed at military bases in Mali, but they would not be directly involved in combat actions.

The West African nation of Mali has been in crisis since its Soviet-trained president Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup in March 2012, and a coalition of Islamist groups seized the north of the country.

The 15-member UN Security Council unanimously voted in December to give the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) an initial one-year mandate.

France deployed its own military contingent on January 10 to aid Mali’s government, whose army had been retreating before the attack of armed groups with ties to al-Qaeda.