Nine years ago, France sent its soldiers to Mali to stop the advance of Islamist terrorist groups and prevent the country from being divided.
The goals were modest, it wasn't about "nation building" as the United States sometimes intended.
France is not experiencing “its Afghanistan”.
But that only makes the failure more bitter.
Although the French army, the German armed forces and many other EU partners moved into the desert, the hoped-for stabilization did not materialize.
Despite the massive European military presence, Mali has staggered from one coup to the next.
The terrorist groups, which are linked to umbrella organizations such as al-Qaeda and "Islamic State" (IS), carry out attacks in neighboring countries and are now threatening the entire region.
Democratic regressions are also unmistakable.
Elections are to take place in Mali in five years at the earliest.
In neighboring Burkina Faso, a coup has brought a military government to power.
Opposition members are imprisoned and fear for their lives.
Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group protect the military junta in Bamako.
A propaganda apparatus supported by the Kremlin gives the regime backing.
France's ambassador had to leave the country.
Hostile slogans against the former colonial power are now de rigueur in Mali.
There is nothing to gloss over in this balance sheet.
Under French leadership, Europe was unable to create stability and peace in a country of almost twenty million people.
The much-talked about “geopolitical EU” has petered out in the Sahara.
Denying defeat like President Emmanuel Macron is no use now.
For him, the priority is not to appear as the one who brought shame on his country two months before the presidential elections.
53 soldiers were killed, and the operation cost almost eight billion euros.
The government in Berlin should not hold back from a relentless error analysis.
It showed an odd understanding of the importance of Sahel policy that no one from the government cabinet attended this week's summit deliberations at the Elysée Palace.
This was not only noticed in Paris, but also by the other EU partners concerned.
False consideration is not what Paris currently needs from Berlin.
Far too often there has been grumbling in silence and no interference when the French government was making strategic decisions.
The federal government was also absent from the summit in Pau in January 2020, where the course was set for further Mali policy.
Nobody in Berlin had insisted on sitting at the table.
It would have been important, especially among friends,
seek open discussion.
Macron's condescending tone towards the African heads of state in Pau would have been reason enough to question the French leadership method in a friendly but firm manner.
The Sahel strategy cannot be limited to the motto “in together, out together”.
It is high time that the German government revealed how it intends to combat terrorism in Africa.
Blind solidarity with France has proven to be an ineffective recipe.
that the German government discloses how it intends to combat terrorism in Africa.
Blind solidarity with France has proven to be an ineffective recipe.
that the German government discloses how it intends to combat terrorism in Africa.
Blind solidarity with France has proven to be an ineffective recipe.