defense
Mali: EU halts practical training for security forces
The Bundeswehr is involved in the UN mission Minusma and the EU training mission EUTM in Mali. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
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The EUTM training mission for the armed forces and the national guard in Mali has been under discussion since February. Now Brussels wants to withdraw. One reason is the Russian mercenary company Wagner.
The EU halts practical training for security forces in West African Mali.
There are insufficient guarantees from the Malian interim government that there will be no interference from the Russian mercenary company Wagner, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday after a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. Wagner is responsible for events in which dozens of people have recently been killed.
According to Borrell, however, the EU will remain present in the country to advise security forces strategically and to teach them the rules of warfare. “Soldiers need to know what is allowed and what is not allowed,” he said about the future focus of the EUTM training mission.
300 Bundeswehr soldiers in training use
France and several partners had already announced in February that they were ending their military anti-terrorist operation in Mali – also because the current interim government is working with Russian mercenaries. Since then, there has also been intensive discussion in the EU as to how to proceed with the EUTM training mission for the country’s armed forces and national guard. At least 300 Bundeswehr soldiers were also involved in it.
In Mali, with its around 20 million inhabitants, the military overthrew the interim government in May last year, which was supposed to be in office until the elections on February 27, 2022. Putschist leader Assimi Goïta had himself proclaimed the new interim president. From the point of view of critics, he has been delaying the necessary preparations for the presidential and parliamentary elections since then. EU chief diplomat Borrell said on Monday that the EU hoped an agreement could be reached on elections.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is visiting the West African crisis states of Mali and Niger from this Tuesday. According to a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office, the Green politician is planning to hold talks with interim President Goïta and Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop in Mali’s capital, Bamako. Baerbock also wants to meet with representatives of the EU training mission EUTM and the UN stabilization mission Minusma. Baerbock plans to fly to neighboring Niger on Wednesday.