Dhe Bundeswehr mission in West African Mali could soon be continued on an earlier scale. After weeks of blockade, the military government had recently allowed a limited change of personnel and allowed more than 100 members of the Bundeswehr to leave the country. As this newspaper learned from security circles in Bamako, preparations are now underway to resume reconnaissance missions. It could be as far as this week.
As a Bundeswehr spokeswoman announced, German reinforcements landed in the Sahel state in the week before last. It was an infantry platoon with around 40 soldiers. If the soldiers took over the airport security in Gao, security forces would again be available to accompany reconnaissance operations in a wider radius. However, the political level decides on the continuation of Bundeswehr operations.
“After a few talks, relations with the Malian military government have relaxed somewhat,” said Ulf Laessing from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bamako. There are still unanswered questions, but the rotation of staff is running again. The rescue of 22 wounded Malian soldiers by the Bundeswehr recently may have made the military government understand the value of the Bundeswehr mission.
The release of three of the 49 arrested Ivorian soldiers over the weekend could also indicate a willingness to compromise. The soldiers were arrested on July 10 after arriving at Bamako airport. The Malian junta called them mercenaries and on August 15 they were charged with “attempting to undermine state security”. According to a MINUSMA spokesman, the soldiers did not belong to one of the contingents of the UN peacekeeping mission, but have been used for logistical support for several years. It was therefore about guards who were supposed to be on duty at a UN base at Bamako airport that was also used by the German armed forces. According to the information service Africa Intelligence, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and Malian interim President Assimi Goïta have also reached an agreement on the release of the remaining soldiers.
Regardless of the gradual improvement, the struggle in Berlin to continue the mission continues. Defense politicians see both the growing presence of the Russian military as a reason for exclusion and the still unclear replacement for French combat helicopters, which also served to protect German patrols. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) had reduced the activities of the around 1,300 soldiers stationed in Mali to a minimum in mid-August after the junta had repeatedly taken harassing measures against the Bundeswehr, which was at the invitation of the government in Bamako and with a mandate from the United Nations engaged since 2016. The security situation has not improved during this time, on the contrary. After a series of coups, a junta of colonels is in power, increasingly relying on Russian and Chinese support. The army, like the UN blue helmets, is subject to frequent attacks by Islamist terrorist groups. In Berlin, there are differences of opinion between the parties of the traffic light coalition about the continuation of the operation.