While France and Great Britain have ended their military operations in Mali, 1,400 German soldiers are holding out in the African country. The chancellor settles a disagreement between Baerbock and Lambrecht: the Bundeswehr stays and at the same time begins to withdraw.
The federal government initially wants to continue the deployment of German soldiers in West African Mali, but also wants to pursue a concrete plan for the withdrawal. According to dpa information, it was agreed at a top-level meeting between the Chancellor’s Office and the ministries in the afternoon to formulate a mandate for the deployment until 2024, but to start with an “entry into the exit” from next year.
A full withdrawal will take about a year, according to previous estimates by military planners. With this compromise, a difference of opinion between the Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who wanted a continuation, and the Social Democratic Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, who advocated a faster withdrawal, seemed to be defused.
The Bundestag mandate for the deployment in Mali is currently valid until the end of May 2023. At the end of May this year, the Bundestag voted to extend it – but for the first time included a withdrawal clause in the mandate in the event that the safety of Bundeswehr soldiers in Mali can no longer be guaranteed . However, various states have already withdrawn from the UN mission. In mid-November, Great Britain announced the withdrawal of its Minusma troops. As one of the most important participants, France has already ended its mission – this tore a large gap in the military equipment of the UN mission.
At a UN ministerial meeting on peacekeeping in Seoul a good year ago, Germany promised to provide a helicopter unit for the transport and care of the wounded as part of the MINUSMA mission until 2024. The UN mission serves to protect the civilian population in Mali. It is considered to be the Bundeswehr’s most dangerous mission abroad at the moment. The Bundeswehr is currently involved with up to 1,400 soldiers in the UN peacekeeping mission Minusma, which has been stationed in Mali since 2013.
A military government that has close ties to Russia has been in power in Mali since last year. Around a thousand Russian Wagner mercenaries are said to be in the country. The work of the UN troops is difficult under the ruling military junta. Currently, all flights, whether by transport planes, helicopters or drones, must be approved in advance by the Malian government. This release often does not take place or only with a very long delay.
According to the Defense Ministry, the Malian authorities have not given the Bundeswehr any flight permits for their reconnaissance drones since October 11 – although reconnaissance is an “essential task of the Bundeswehr in Mali,” said a spokesman. “Of course, this has an impact on the execution of the order, which is significantly restricted.”
