Bundeswehr mission in Mali extended for the last time
Berlin The Bundestag has armed forces– Deployment in West Africa mali last extended for another year. Against the votes of the entire opposition, the parliamentary majority decided on Friday to withdraw up to 1,400 German soldiers from the crisis state on May 31, 2024.
The armed forces has been involved in the Minusma blue helmet mission to stabilize the country for ten years, but has recently been massively obstructed by Mali’s military junta.
For example, they refused flight permits for the Heron reconnaissance drone operated by the Germans on behalf of the UN.
That is why the CDU/CSU parliamentary group had called for Germany’s currently largest and most dangerous foreign mission armed forces to be completed by the end of the year at the latest.
The traffic light coalition justified the later withdrawal with the presidential elections planned for February 2024 in Mali. In addition, a deduction must be orderly, reliable and coordinated with international partners, explained Agnieszka Brugger, deputy leader of the Greens parliamentary group.
The Defense Policy Spokesman union factionFlorian Hahn (CSU), however, emphasized that the security and care of the soldiers was no longer guaranteed and that there was no longer any talk of fulfilling the order.
In Hahn’s words, protecting the announced elections is also not a sufficient argument: “You all know very well that these elections will probably not take place.” Resistance to the extension of the mandate also came from AfD and leftists who – unlike the Union parties – had already rejected the mission in recent years.
In the course of the afternoon, the Bundestag also wants to extend the deployment of the Bundeswehr in Kosovo, where there is still tension with the Serb minority. There are currently only around 70 German soldiers on duty there.
