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German soldiers in Mali near the airport of Gao (photo from 2018)
Photo: Michael Kappeler / DPA
For eight years France struggled to fight jihadists in Mali.
The expansion of the groups did not prevent this, the political situation in the country is unstable - there was a recent coup.
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that he will replace the French military operation with an international alliance against Islamists.
Many of the French soldiers are to be withdrawn.
For Germany, this raises the question of how to proceed with the approximately 1,700 Bundeswehr soldiers who are involved in training and stabilization missions of the EU and the UN in Mali.
Only a few weeks ago the Bundestag approved an extension and reinforcement of the Bundeswehr mandate for Mali.
Merkel considers the presence of the Bundeswehr in Mali to be "still important"
For the FDP foreign politician Bijan Djir-Sarai, the attitude of the federal government on Macron's new course needs to be explained.
"I am calling for a special meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee only on Mali, if necessary also during the parliamentary summer break," he told SPIEGEL.
The representatives of the federal government would have to explain how things are going with the two German missions in Mali.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) did not rule out an end to the missions until the end of May, regardless of the coup in Mali.
"We believe that our local presence is still important," she said after the Franco-German Council of Ministers with Macron.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) also spoke at the end of last week.
One would discuss with Paris how to proceed.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Ministry of Defense, in turn, stated that it is currently not expected that the French decision will currently have any impact on the security situation.
Djir-Sarai sees it differently. According to Macron's decision, the German mission must "urgently be evaluated and the necessary conclusions drawn from it." If France "should decide not to stay in Mali, Germany cannot stay there either," demands the foreign policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group. The Bundeswehr could not ensure stability with its missions in Mali, "if the country's elite themselves do not contribute to stability," said Djir-Sarai.
It was only in August 2020 that the military put a coup against the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.
He was followed by the interim President Bad Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane.
Both were arrested, deposed and forced to resign by the military at the end of May 2021.
The transitional government should actually pave the way to a civilian government.
In the background of the latest coup, Army Colonel Assimi Goïta, who was proclaimed interim president, is apparently once again acting.
He is considered a real strong man in Mali and led the coup in August 2020 that overthrew Keïta.
