Germany has begun withdrawing its troops from Mali. Berlin is stationing around 1,000 troops in the northern city of Gao as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission MINUSMA. At the end of May 2024, Germany wants its last soldiers out of the West African country.
MINUSMA, acronym for Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, was established in 2013 to support foreign troops and the Malian government army in the fight against armed groups. However, there has been repeated friction between the Malian military government and the mission in recent months.
According to German commander Colonel Heiko Bohnsack, the army has started shipping the first pieces of equipment. Bohnsack told German newspaper Tagesspiegel. In the early stages of sampling, the material present slowly thins out. Troops will then retain all the resources to accomplish their mission, Bohnsack added. The Germans mainly carry out reconnaissance missions on behalf of the United Nations.
LESS
MINUSMA has around 12,000 military personnel stationed in the country, most of whom come from Chad, Bangladesh and Egypt. The Netherlands also contributed to the mission from April 2014 to May 1, 2019. During that period, Dutch soldiers jointly carried out more than 1,200 one-day and 120 multi-day patrols, according to the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
Three Dutch staff officers still work for MINUSMA in the Malian capital Bamako, one soldier is stationed with the Germans in Gao. Additionally, the Netherlands is providing four officers and two Marechaussees to the police component within the mission. Finally, four Dutch soldiers in Mali support the European training mission EUTM.
Wagner
Relations between Europe and Mali have deteriorated rapidly since the 2020 military coup that brought Colonel Assimi Goïta to power and since the military regime used mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group to fight the rebels. This prompted France to withdraw its troops in 2022, after a nearly ten-year presence in Mali.
Source: BNR
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