Mali: what future for the German military commitment?
German soldier from Minusma, Gao, Mali, August 2018. AFP - SEYLLOU
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Two months after the announcement of the withdrawal of Barkhane and the European task force Takuba, Germany is in turn wondering about its future commitment to Mali.
In an attempt to see more clearly, Berlin sent two ministers to the country in quick succession.
After Christine Lambrecht, the Minister of Defense, last weekend, it's Annalena Baerbock's turn to go to Bamako.
The head of German diplomacy arrived on site this Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
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The German minister has a busy schedule.
She is due to meet in principle tomorrow with the president of the Malian transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdoulaye Diop.
Before that, she planned to meet with representatives of Minusma, the UN mission, and the European Union training mission in Mali, EUTM.
These two missions have in their ranks respectively 1,170 and 328 German soldiers.
Can these soldiers continue their mission in the country?
It is to try to answer this question that the head of German diplomacy is in Mali.
She wants to
"
get a clear idea of the political and security situation
",
explains those around her as relations have continued to deteriorate between the Malian junta and the Europeans.
"
The Bamako government has lost the trust of the international community in recent months, in particular by delaying the democratic transition and intensifying military cooperation with Moscow
,"
said the minister before her arrival in the country.
After the departure of Barkhane and Takuba and as accusations of abuses against the Malian army multiply, the future of the soldiers of the Bundeswher arises.
German MPs will have to decide the issue at the end of May.
But the German government has already expressed its skepticism about keeping them there.
End of EU training missions
And it is probably no coincidence that a few hours before the arrival in Bamako of the German Foreign Minister, the European Union announced that it was stopping
its training and training missions for
the Malian army and national guard.
The main problem facing the EU, for Josep Borrel the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, is the presence of mercenaries from the Russian group Wagner, who came to Mali at the call of the junta, and the collaboration of units of the Malian army trained by the EU in their activities.
Fama and Russian auxiliaries are notably accused of very serious abuses at the end of March in Moura in the center of the country.
Events force us to do so.
Unfortunately, there are not sufficient guarantees from the transitional authorities on the non-interference of the famous Wagner companies which are beginning to become responsible for the sad events which caused dozens of deaths in Mali recently.
But we continue to want to stay in Mali.
We will continue to advise on the formation of the laws of war.
Soldiers also need to know what the laws of war are because war has laws too.
Josep Borrel, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs
Pierre Firtion
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