Germany announced on Friday suspending “until further notice“the major part of its military operations in Mali within the framework of the UN mission (Minusma), by denouncing a new refusal of overflight by the Malian authorities. “The Malian government has once again refused to authorize a flight scheduled for today“which was to ensure a rotation of personnel, explained a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense.
Consequently, “we are suspending our reconnaissance operations and helicopter transport flights until further notice” car “it is no longer possible to support Minusma operationally“, he added. Without the new staff who were partly to “replace French forces” who withdraw, “lon-site security is no longer ensured” et “the remaining forces must be dedicated to securing“and will no longer be able to carry out their usual missions, explained the spokesperson during a press conference.
The denial of the overflight came despite assurances to the contrary from Mali’s Defense Minister Sadio Camara in a telephone interview Thursday with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht, he added. “Camara’s actions speak a different language than his words“, denounced the German minister on Twitter.
“It’s a real disaster for MINUSMA which is the real target of the Malian regime”comments for his part the researcher specializing in the Sahel Yvan Guichaoua on his Twitter account.
Germany’s contribution to MINUSMA is around 1,400 personnel. MINUSMA is politically inoffensive for the Malian regime. On the other hand, she has eyes and ears to document the abuses of the FAMAs and their new friends.
— Yvan Guichaoua (@YGuichaoua) August 12, 2022
Degraded relations between Mali and the UN
The German decision comes as Mali, which pushed the old French ally out and ardently relaunched cooperation with Moscow, has for some weeks been facing a resurgence of attacks from the nebula of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, JNIM in Arabic).
Relations between the junta in power in Bamako and Paris, a former colonial power, have deteriorated sharply in recent months, particularly since the arrival in Mali paramilitaries from the Russian private security group Wagner, pushing the two countries to break up after nine years of uninterrupted French presence to fight against the jihadists.
The French force Barkhane is currently finalizing the evacuation of its equipment from this country. Relations between Mali and the UN, whose blue helmets have been present in the country since 2013, have also deteriorated in recent weeks.