The Bundeswehr has been deployed in Mali for almost ten years. But the West African country remains unstable. The repeated denial of overflight rights now has consequences.
Germany is suspending the Bundeswehr mission in West African Mali for the time being. The Federal Ministry of Defense announced that transport flights and reconnaissance operations would be suspended until further notice. The Malian government had repeatedly denied the Bundeswehr overflight rights, it said in justification. The on-site staff should be rotated with the flight.
In principle, Germany is still willing to take part in the international peace mission, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit assured. However, that only makes sense if it is supported by the government there.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht sharply criticized her Malian counterpart Sadio Camara. “Camara’s actions speak a different language than his words,” complained the SPD politician. On Thursday, she is said to have received assurances in a telephone call from Camara that troop exchange flights could be resumed.
Mali has seen three military coups since 2012
Just at the beginning of the week, the head of the political department of the Federal Foreign Office for Africa, Latin America, the Near and Middle East, Christian Buck, traveled to Mali for negotiations. It was then said that the Malian side had signaled that the rotation of troops could take place again in the near future.
Mali, with around 20 million inhabitants, has experienced three military coups since 2012 and is considered to be extremely unstable politically. Since the most recent coup in May 2021, the country has been led by an interim military government tasked with maintaining close ties with Russia. Since then, the deployment of the UN peacekeeping force Minusma, in which the Bundeswehr is also involved, has been repeatedly impaired.
Source: Stern
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