German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in comments that were published on Monday that he is thinking about pulling Germany’s troops out of the U.N. stabilisation mission in Mali earlier than expected because they are currently unable to carry out their mission.
The government stated in November that troops would be withdrawn in May 2024, but added that if it became impossible to fly the drones that allow soldiers to leave army bases, they might be withdrawn sooner.
‘Our soldiers aren’t fulfilling their mandate if they can’t leave the base or can only move in a small area around it because the drones can’t fly,’ he told the newspaper. Furthermore, the mission is a time and money waste.
He claimed that drones hadn’t been able to fly since before Christmas.
Since jihadist organisations seized control of a rebellion by Tuareg separatists in the north in 2012, Mali has been plagued by Islamist violence. Despite an expensive international military response, the violence has since spread to other nations in the Sahel region of West Africa.
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