Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan's office confirmed the continued deployment of a CC-130 Hercules in support of UN missions in Africa on Sunday.

Figures from the United Nations show just 35 Canadian peacekeepers deployed at the end of April.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali was established in 2013 to help stabilize the northwestern African nation.

In March 1993, a 16-year-old Somali boy was beaten and tortured to death after he was caught by soldiers sneaking into a military compound. 

The Security Council urged all parties to ``exercise maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region.''

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Thursday the aircraft will be supported by as many as 25 Canadian Armed Forces personnel.

The commander of Canada's peacekeeping force in Mali says he is worried about apparent delays in the approval of life-saving medical evacuations - and that he is looking at ways to limit such problems in the future.

Diplomats anonymously say the government failed to explain that the mission is both necessary and that the Canadians will be relatively safe, compared to the thousands of other peacekeepers working in Mali.

Canada's mission to Mali will centre around the deployment of up to six military helicopters.

Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan is to provide details of the number of troops on Monday, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity about what will be Canada's first mission to Africa since Rwanda in 1994.