Is this a beginning or a farewell? The Malian Army Band plays for Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht as she walks through the honor guard. The soldiers stand at attention for the minister, wearing brightly colored scarves. Behind them, in the flower beds, are decommissioned field guns. There is no longer any danger from them.
It is eight o’clock in the morning and Lambrecht meets her Malian counterpart on the premises of the Ministry of Defense in Bamako. Colonel Sadio Camara wears civilian clothes, in the traditional boubou he walks through the formation with her. The first personal meeting of the two, who only knew each other from video conferences, seems like the beginning of something: the music, the friendly reception – but is the Bundeswehr really still welcome? And does that even count now?
“The German government has made a decision”
Lambrecht is here because the Bundeswehr’s time in Mali is coming to an end. Not today, not tomorrow, but the soldiers are said to have packed their things by the end of May 2024. Ideally, Mali would then hold elections. That is the plan. The Bundeswehr has been deployed in the West African country since 2013. She is part of the UN’s “Minusma” blue helmet mission, which was supposed to stabilize the terror-ridden country. The Germans also helped train the Malian military, but that was stopped earlier this year. It didn’t work anymore.
“The German government has made a decision,” says Lambrecht, to prepare the colleagues at her side to say goodbye. Camara doesn’t look like he’s concerned. He will later say that he “welcomes” the decision. Germany is behaving “openly and honestly”, which other European partners who are withdrawing have not done.
A goodbye, then, but one that will last so long that new problems could arise from it. About 1100 Bundeswehr soldiers are currently in Mali. Their mission was at times more dangerous than that in Afghanistan. And now the troops are standing in the door like a guest who already has his rucksack on his back but still doesn’t leave. How is that supposed to work until May 2024 – if it hasn’t really worked in the past? Lambrecht speaks to Camara about the problems, for example: After two months, the Bundeswehr was allowed to return for the first time Heron-Raise a reconnaissance drone in the skies over Mali. The drone provides images for the indispensable situational picture of the blue helmet mission. And she is in the air to protect the soldiers, because terrorist groups are lurking outside the camp in Gao, attacking convoys and killing people with booby traps.
Another phase without a drone, “that must not be repeated,” says Lambrecht after the conversation with Camara. We want to work together to make it better. That is a condition for the Bundeswehr to stay until May 2024. And the elections that the Malian rulers want to hold shortly beforehand really have to take place, she demands. Otherwise you have to think about an earlier farewell. Camara says: His country seeks cooperation with all states that respect Mali’s sovereignty and “do not interfere in internal affairs”. That doesn’t sound like an overly friendly conversation. More like partners who make their positions clear again in the separation. Can you build something on top of that that lasts a year and a half?
All’s well that ends well – that’s what the German Foreign Ministry wants it to be
The Malian rulers won’t even allow the Bundeswehr to exchange personnel without any problems. Mali’s government has repeatedly refused personnel flights, sometimes only after the planes were already in the air. A flight had to be postponed 14 days ago. Mali is no longer the country that Germany once willingly offered to help. In May 2021, the military, which is receiving international aid for its fight against Islamist terrorists, overthrew the interim government. It was the second military coup in a short period of time.
And the military junta brought Russian mercenaries into the country, who are waging a brutal anti-terror fight without regard for the civilian population. That’s why the training mission for the Malian military no longer exists. Russia’s influence is also likely to be the deeper reason why the German drone is not allowed to fly when and where it is supposed to. Finding a way out of this difficult situation and then helping with the elections could be a nice end to the mission. Election workers in uniform, then the farewell – that ends well, all is well. At least that’s what they want in the German Foreign Ministry.
There was disagreement in the federal government. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his party colleague Lambrecht would have preferred to leave sooner. From a military point of view, it actually makes no sense anymore. Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock preferred to stick with the mission in order to present Germany as a reliable partner in the world. A hasty retreat would not have looked good.
At Minusma’s headquarters that day, Lambrecht meets El-Ghassim Wane, the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General who is leading the mission. In the spring, when Lambrecht was here before, he assured her how important Germany’s contribution was. Now it is also about the modalities of the end. What will the soldiers do until May 2024? Who cares about situational pictures when no one is patrolling anymore? And no one fights terrorists like the French did until they left. Sweden and Great Britain have also submitted their farewells. They won’t stay until 2024.
According to military experts, an orderly withdrawal takes at least six, more like nine months. Weapons and sensitive equipment must be returned to Germany. This will start in the summer of 2023. And the more equipment is gone, the less the Bundeswehr will be able to do. There’s still a lot for the defense secretary to think about.