United Nations
Bundeswehr has ended its mission in Mali
The Bundeswehr soldiers have left the Camp Castor military camp, thus ending their UN mission in Mali. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The Bundeswehr has left its camp in Gao, West Africa. The UN operation did not bring the hoped-for success. The country’s military government has turned to Russia.
This marks the end of the Bundeswehr’s second major deployment outside Europe after Afghanistan in Mali. The mission in West Africa was recently considered the most dangerous mission. In 2017, two German pilots died when their Tiger attack helicopter crashed in Mali. In addition, a total of 12 German soldiers were wounded in a suicide attack in 2021. According to the Bundeswehr, a total of around 20,000 German blue helmets have been deployed in the UN mission over the years.
The field camp was handed over to Mali before departure. In recent years it has been the center of Germany’s contribution to the UN troops. At the beginning of the week there were still a few German soldiers in the previous Minusma command staff in the capital Bamako. The UN peacekeeping mission held a formal closing ceremony there yesterday. According to UN information, blue helmets from 53 countries were involved in the mission.
Foreign Minister of Mali: Blue helmets “part of the problem”
Mali’s military government had called for the withdrawal of all around 12,000 UN peacekeepers in mid-June and had previously increased cooperation with Russia. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop accused the peacekeepers of becoming “part of the problem” instead of adequately responding to the security situation. A UN report published in May found that hundreds of civilians had been killed in an operation by Mali soldiers and suspected Russian mercenaries in Mali the previous year.
The UN Security Council then initiated an end to Minusma. Germany had already decided to end its participation in the mission. At the beginning of the week, according to the Bundeswehr, around 160 of the original 1,000 soldiers were still in Mali. Another 120 men and women were at the Niamey air transport base in neighboring Niger.
The German withdrawal took months and was made more difficult after there was a military coup in Niger, which borders Mali, and the previously good relations became more complicated.
On the Nigerien side of the border with Mali, a transport convoy with German military goods from Gao is currently stuck in customs clearance. There is military equipment left behind in the field camp in Gao, which is yet to be brought back home in a second transport by a civilian company.
Pistorius wants to receive soldiers after the end of the Mali mission
After the end of the UN mission in Mali, West Africa, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) wants to receive the returning soldiers on Friday at the air base in Wunstorf near Hanover. The press office of Air Force Squadron 62 in Wunstorf said a so-called return appeal was planned to “appreciate their achievements”.