The step had already been announced.

Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has now also confirmed that Germany will no longer participate in the "European Union Training Mission" (EUTM) in Mali.

Lambrecht said on Wednesday at the government meeting in Schloss Meseberg that there would be no support for well-trained Malian soldiers working with Russian forces to commit "terrible human rights violations".

Therefore, the mission will be discontinued.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

  • Follow I follow

France Wittenbrink

Editor in Politics.

  • Follow I follow

The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had already announced the end of the mission in the West African country in April.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock agreed with the statement during her trip to Mali a few weeks ago and confirmed that Europe would "not continue the training mission like this".

In Mali, around 300 German soldiers recently trained members of the Malian army in the fight against terror as part of EUTM.

Break of the Malian military junta with France

On May 31, the Bundestag will decide on Germany's future engagement in Mali.

Not only the European training mission is up for debate, but also participation in the UN mission MINUSMA.

According to Lambrecht, this should also be continued in the future – although the challenges are great.

One of the greatest difficulties is that the Bundeswehr will have to completely forgo support from French armed forces in the future.

The Malian military junta is driving the break with France ever further and has unilaterally terminated all defense agreements.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian published a protest note on Wednesday stating that the unilateral decision in Bamako had no legal basis.

The military junta claims that the dismissal is effective immediately.

Against this background, the situation is now becoming difficult for the approximately 2,400 remaining French soldiers.

The military regime has canceled the 2013 troop stationing agreement and the 2020 additional protocol for the deployment of European special forces.

The 2014 Treaty on Structured Defense Cooperation is also affected.

The latter is due to expire in six months.

Is Russia behind the layoff offensive?

Government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga cited violations of Malian airspace by French military aircraft as the reason on state television.

He criticized the "unilateral" decision to withdraw the troops of the Barkhane anti-terrorist mission and to stop planning joint operations with the Malian armed forces.

In February, the French government responded to the deployment of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner troops by announcing its withdrawal.

Since then there has been a constant dispute over the overflight rights.

There is speculation in the French Foreign Ministry that Russia could be behind the layoff offensive.

In the UN Security Council, Moscow has long been criticizing France's role in Mali.

From the outset, the UN mission MINUSMA was run to flank the French military commitment.

In Paris, it is believed that an incident near the French base in Gossi could be the reason Russia is pushing the military junta into a complete break with the former colonial power.

The French army used a drone to film Russian mercenaries burying bodies in the desert sand.

Presumably, the French should be accused of being responsible for the dead.

France sees itself in an information war and has made the film footage public.