Military: With civil flight: Bundeswehr exchanges German personnel in Mali
military
With civil flight: Bundeswehr exchanges German personnel in Mali
The Bundeswehr is sending a civilian plane to Mali for the troop rotation. The interim government there is currently hindering the exchange with the help of military aircraft. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Mali has blocked the change of contingents of the blue helmet mission in the country for a long time. The dispute complicated the operation – it also affects German military machines. Now a charter plane is in use.
the armed forces used a charter plane for the troop rotation of soldiers from the UN mission Minusma, which was hampered by clashes with the Malian military government.
The plane that took off from Cologne landed in the Malian capital of Bamako with 93 soldiers on board, according to a briefing for the Bundestag. After a few hours, it should start back to Germany with 89 men and women from the Bundeswehr. There will be another one next week Flight planned and already approved by the Malian authorities.
It was the first flight for a change of personnel for the German mission contingent after the Malian transitional government suspended the contingent change of the UN mission Minusma on July 14, it said. Also between Mali Civil flights are used between the capital Bamako and the camp on the outskirts of the airport in the city of Gao. The civilian flight was an alternative to flying in a military transporter, for which the Malian interim government had not given permission.
On the outbound flight, 88 soldiers from the UN Minusma mission and 5 soldiers from the EU training mission EUTM Mali were on board, as per the briefing for the Bundestag emerged. The Federal Foreign Office had previously stated that 16 troop-contributing countries had written a letter to the United Nations demanding that the UN “now do even more to ensure that working conditions in Mali are now normalized again as quickly as possible”.
“This approach brings short-term relief in the pent-up personnel rotation, but we can’t work like this,” warned the defense policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Alexander Müller. Weapons and ammunition may not be carried on civilian flights. Müller: “We have special military transporters like the A400M with special protection for this, and are now dependent on private cargo planes. If Mali is still interested in Minusma, then the government must allow the standard international processes again.”
The Defense Ministry had said in Berlin the previous evening that the Malian government had “reached an agreement in principle with Minusma on August 1 to resume rotation”. This should also be used for supply flights and medical rescue flights, but has not yet been implemented. For Minusma, the personnel rotation of the large West African troop providers, whose soldiers have now been deployed for up to twenty months, is a top priority.
On Monday, France withdrew the last soldiers of its anti-terrorist operation “Barkhane” from Mali and thus also left the camp in Gao. Mali, with around 20 million inhabitants, has experienced three military coups since 2012 and is considered to be extremely unstable politically. Since the recent coup in May 2021, it has been run by a military government that has been criticized by Western states for its close ties with Russia.
