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Defense Minister Lambrecht during a visit to the troops
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Defense Minister Christina Lambrecht spontaneously had to cancel a trip to Mali and Niger that had been planned for weeks to visit her soldiers.
Shortly before, one of Lambrecht's closest employees had tested positive for Covid-19.
Because the officer accompanied the minister almost the whole day in the ministry and at appointments and also flew to Africa, the entire trip was canceled for security reasons.
The trip had not been under a good star for days, regardless of Covid-19.
For weeks, doubts have been growing within the federal government as to whether and how the Bundeswehr's currently largest foreign mission can be continued.
In Mali, a good 1,000 German soldiers are stationed with the university mission "Minusma" in the north of the country.
In other parts of the country, the Bundeswehr is training the local army as part of an EU initiative.
The political situation in Mali is considered highly problematic
However, the political situation in Mali is now viewed as highly problematic in Berlin.
In 2021, a colonel couped himself and a military junta into power.
The putschists had initially announced democratic elections for February.
A few weeks ago, however, the return to democracy was postponed indefinitely.
Minister Lambrecht recently said that without a quick election date, both Bundeswehr missions would be in question.
In addition, the military had entered into extensive cooperation with the Russian mercenary group »Wagner« in the past few months.
Western secret services estimate that there are now around 500 Russian mercenaries in the country, as well as regular Russian soldiers.
In recent weeks, they have carried out several operations against terrorist groups in the country with the Malian army. There have also been air attacks that are hardly possible without Russian help.
Tensions between the Europeans engaged in Mali and the military junta had escalated in recent days.
The junta recently expelled the French ambassador in response to criticism from Paris.
Danish troops taking part in a French-led training mission for the Malian army were also expelled from the country.
Together with the EU, Berlin had protested sharply against these measures.
As a former colonial power, France provides the largest international troop contingent in the region and in 2013 prevented a takeover of Mali by various jihadist groups through a hastily initiated military intervention.
In response to the diplomatic affront, the government in Paris announced that it would hold consultations with its European partners on the future military presence in the West African country by mid-February.
For Germany, the clock is ticking when it comes to Mali.
By May, Berlin must decide whether and how to continue to engage in the crisis state, since the Bundestag will then have to vote on a new mandate.
However, it is uncertain whether the military junta will be impressed by the threat that European soldiers could withdraw.
In any case, international diplomats in Bamako doubt that the military are still open to rational arguments.
Lambrecht wanted to speak plain language in Mali
Originally, Minister Lambrecht wanted to speak plainly during her now-cancelled trip to Bamako and call for quick elections.
Even a meeting with the leader of the putschists was discussed.
Even before the cancellation on Tuesday, however, Bamako was removed from the delegation's program, and only a meeting with the acting defense minister in the German camp Castor was still planned.
It is not yet clear when and whether the trip to Mali will be made up for.
The concrete threat of a deduction is nevertheless in the room.
At the end of last week, the Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Katja Keul, traveled to Mali.
There she made it clear that without quick elections there was no other option.
"If the Malian government doesn't quickly send positive signals, the commitment of the Bundeswehr on the ground will be called into question," Keul said after returning to Berlin.
She described the current situation as “unacceptable”
On the same day, the Prime Minister of the interim government, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, further fueled the dispute with France.
In a speech to the international ambassadors, he accused France of trying to divide the country during their military operation.
International observers believe that the junta is trying to score points with the population by criticizing the former colonial power.