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The German government plans to gradually exit the country’s participation in a U.N. military mission in Mali and the final pullout will be by the middle of 2024
The German government plans to gradually exit the country’s participation in a U.N. military mission in Mali and the final pullout will be by the middle of 2024. Of late, tensions have grown between Mali, its African neighbours, and the West after Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group were deployed in the Sahel region. The Russians are invited by the Mali government to fight against the Jihadist forces.
The Malian soldiers were trained by the Russian forces to fight the Jihadists. In the fights that ensued, there were many human rights violations that would have prompted the Germans to withdraw their forces, giving them enough time till 2024. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said that the government would propose to parliament granting a final one-year extension to the mission in Mali in May to allow this deployment to be phased out in a structured way after 10 years of their stay in the region. Mali’s election is expected in February 2024 based on the assurance given by the military junta.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/france-suspends-public-development-aid-to-mali/
https://trendsnafrica.com/uk-to-withdraw-its-military-contingent-from-mali-2/
German military missions overseas require a mandate from parliament to operate in a station, which is granted on an annual basis. The current mandate for Germany’s participation in the U.N. mission known as MINUSMA allows the country to deploy up to 1,400 troops. Importantly, Britain announced last week that it would withdraw its troops from the U.N. mission in Mali, on account of the presence of Russian mercenaries, which the western countries feel is undermining the stability of the region. However, Britain has not announced any time frame for withdrawal. France announced earlier this year it was withdrawing its own much larger force from Mali after relations deteriorated with the junta that seized power in 2020. France, the former colonial power in Mali, led a nine-year mission and had at its peak 5,500 troops in the country to combat Islamic militants.
