Germany on Wednesday announced it has decided to extend its presence in the United Nations (UN) military mission in Mali (MINUSMA) for one last year and aims to completely withdraw its troops from the country by May next year, reported The Guardian.
MINUSMA was created back in 2013 to help stabilize Mali as it battled jihadist militants. About 12,000 military personnel were deployed in the country as part of the UN mission. The three largest contributors are Chad, Bangladesh, and Egypt.
Last year, Germany announced that it planned to withdraw its troops, who currently number 1,100, from the mission by May 2024. The decision was taken due to tensions with the country’s ruling military junta.
In a statement, Olaf Scholz’s government confirmed that the German Bundeswehr soldiers would gradually leave over the next 12 months. Berlin will begin withdrawing some of the military equipment already this month, and it will adjust its contribution to MINUSMA in coordination with the UN, and partner countries.
Since 2015, Mali has been caught in a spiral of jihadist violence that has spread across the Sahel. The violence has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers and displaced some 2 million people over the past seven years.
Mali, which saw two military coups in 2022 alone, is currently ruled by the military. The ruling junta has distanced itself from the West since taking back control and has turned toward Russia in particular as the Kremlin seeks to extend its influence across Africa.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the government is reorganizing its engagement in the Sahel region and will let the troops’ participation in MINUSMA run out in a structured fashion over the next 12 months.
Germany, however, would continue to stay committed to security in the Sahel even after the planned withdrawal of its troops from Mali.
