Recently installed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is considering an earlier-than-expected withdrawal of Bundeswehr forces from the UN mission to Mali, according to an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung last week. German forces have been deployed to Mali since 2013 to aid UN efforts to stabilise the country against Islamist insurgents.
Germany, which has just over 1,000 personnel in the country as part of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA), has recently been hampered by the departure of French forces, which made up the bulk of the mission as well as restrictions on the flying of drones by the Malian government.
Departure by Germany would help bind Russian dominance in the country with Moscow, extending trade links with Mali last year.
The German government had initially planned a withdrawal by 2024, beginning in the summer 2023, but Pistorius’s comments indicate a fast-tracking of that timeline. German forces are primarily stationed in the northern town of Gao and are tasked with reconnaissance duties for the UN mission.
Pistorius cited the mission as a “waste of money” hampered by impositions made by Mali’s increasingly anti-western government. German forces have been in Mali for the past 10 years, but have not engaged in active counterterrorism duties.
In August 2022, Germany was forced to temporarily suspend daily operations with the mission, due to regulations imposed by the Malian government prohibiting landing civilian aircraft carrying German troops.
The German army is also active in neighbouring Niger, with Berlin confirming its intention to participate in a new EU mission in the country to engage in counterterrorism.
Pistorius stated that the rules against the flying of drones by foreign forces made German participation question the viability of the mission:
If our soldiers cannot leave the camp or can only move in a small radius because the drones are not allowed to fly, then they are not fulfilling their mission.
France and Britain have already announced withdrawals from the mission, with Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group increasingly active in the country and favoured by the anti-Western but secular Malian junta for their ability to fight Islamists. France, which is heavily active across the region, has faced particular backlash for its failures to combat Islamism.
Mali’s ruling junta expelled a senior UN official with the stabilisation mission this week, accusing foreign forces of meddling in the country.
Pistorius was appointed as defence minister following the controversial resignation of his predecessor Christine Lambrecht for a series of PR blunders. The past month has seen pressure on the German government to provide military hardware to Ukraine, with Pistorius authorising the deployment of 88 Leopard tanks last week in what is seen as a realignment of German strategic priorities.
Pistorius’s sentiments in the interview and potential policy change are a strong indicator that 10 years of peacekeeping duties are ending in failure for Germany and the West. A decade after arriving in Mali, German forces find themselves marooned politically and militarily after Russia outmanoeuvred the West in what is France’s traditional sphere of influence.
