German troops will stay in Mali until 2024 as part of the UN mission in the country but a controlled withdrawal will be prepared in the meantime, the government decided.
In a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and several ministers agreed to prolong the German army’s mandate in Mali until 2024, but agreed to start the withdrawal process in the summer of 2023, according to several media reports. By May 2024, all German troops should have left the country, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit confirmed in a statement.
The deployment of German troops in Mali has been increasingly called into question after France announced in February it was pulling its troops out, a move that was followed by other EU member states, including Sweden and the Netherlands.
Paris withdrew troops in Mali after the African country’s military took power in a 2020 coup amid a breakdown of relations. The military leaders subsequently invited Russian military contractor Wagner Group to help with a decade-long battle against Islamist militants while cutting ties with France.
While Berlin still decided to prolong Germany’s participation in the UN mission and even send extra troops back in February, pressure has mounted since as critics raised concerns over close ties of Mali’s leadership to Russia, including the alleged activity of Wagner mercenaries in the country.
The decision taken on Tuesday, which still has to be confirmed by the parliament, represents a compromise between Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is in favour of continued presence in the country, and Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, whose ministry has been sceptical of extending the mandate.
The Foreign Ministry argued that Mali is an important anchor of stability in the region.
Currently, around 1,200 German soldiers are part of the UN’s MINUSMA mission, which aims to stabilise the country and protect the population from Islamist militia.
(Julia Dahm I EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
