In unstable Sahel, Germany halts troop deployment to Mali
POLITICOAug 13, 2022
Germany announced on Tuesday its intent to withdraw its troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) starting in the summer of 2023. It expects the process to be completed a year later, reportedly by May 2024.
According to spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit, the government will ask parliament for a one-year extension to the mission's mandate for the last time in May 2023 to bring the operation "to a structured end after 10 years," ahead of Mali's planned elections in February 2024.
Germany's decision to withdraw from Mali is only logical given the Malian junta's unwillingness to cooperate with the UN. Moreover, the activities of the nebulous Wagner paramilitaries are contributing to the increasing destabilization of the country. This, coupled with Bamako's hostility toward the West, has made further cooperation to successfully combat jihadism impossible.
The MINUSMA mission has failed to combat Islamist terrorism and has long been considered a failure comparable to Afghanistan. The Western-dominated mission has also been weaponized to curb Russia's growing influence in the country in the name of "human rights" and to undermine Mali's national sovereignty. Germany's withdrawal is another defeat for neocolonialism, in which Berlin has been complicit.