Sahel Edition

Sahel: Germany and Mali agree ‘smooth’ pullout of UN-backed troopsF

Posted On 20 July 2023

Number of times this article was read : 1757

Germany and Mali agreed Thursday to pursue a “smooth withdrawal” of German troops from the troubled African nation after the UN decided to end its decade-old peacekeeping mission there, Berlin said. Mali’s defence minister Sadio Camara assured his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in a telephone call of Bamako’s “support with the relocation of the troops”, the German defence ministry said. “It was a productive call at the right time,” the ministry quoted Pistorius as saying. “We agreed to stay in contact in order to ensure a smooth withdrawal of the German army from Mali.”

With memories of the chaotic exit from Afghanistan in 2021 still fresh, the German government had initially said it would pull its 1,110 troops out of the UN mission in Mali by next May. But the ministry said Thursday the German army would now halt the mission by the end of the year, when the UN withdrawal is set to be completed. Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop had stunned the Security Council last month by calling the major UN operation known as Minusma a “failure” and urging its end.

Bowing to the principle that peacekeepers need the consent of the host government, the Security Council voted unanimously on June 30 to start immediately winding down the mission despite fears by Western powers of new instability in the African nation.

Mali’s relations with the UN have deteriorated sharply since a 2020 coup brought to power a military regime that also severed defence cooperation with France, the former colonial power. The junta instead has rallied behind Moscow and brought in the Wagner Group, the ruthless mercenaries involved in a short-lived mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.

AFP

More on the Sahel

West Africa: Jihadist Attacks Intensify in Northern Benin Amid Cross-Border Insurgency Pressure$

Jihadist attacks in northern Benin have intensified in recent weeks, with militants linked to JNIM claiming a deadly assault on a military position near the Niger border and carrying out additional raids on security posts along the country’s volatile frontiers with Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The violence underscores how northern Benin has become part of a wider cross-border insurgency spilling south from the central Sahel, even as authorities bolster Operation Mirador and try to prevent armed groups from entrenching themselves on Beninese soil.

Desert Locusts Stir Fresh Worries in North-West Africa$

Small desert locust swarms recently detected along the western Sahara corridor have prompted stepped-up monitoring across parts of North and West Africa, where shifting rainfall can quickly turn quiet desert areas into launchpads for wider infestations.

Mali Army, Russian Allies Accused of Executing Civilians Near Mauritania Border$

Seven Malian refugees traveling from Mauritania were allegedly executed by Malian soldiers and Russian Africa Corps personnel near Ahl El Kory, close to the Mauritanian border, after their vehicles were stopped on March 6. Local sources say the unarmed Fulani civilians were shot or had their throats cut, while other passengers were beaten, questioned as suspected jihadists, then released.