Written by Cordula Schnuer
Published on 26.04.2022
A Luxembourg contingent deploying to Mali in August 2021 Library photo: Armée luxembourgeoise
Defence minister François Bausch is planning on extending the deployment of Luxembourg soldiers in Mali after the EU reduced security training of the country’s military over reported abuses.
The EU training mission (EUTM) in Mali launched following a 2012 coup and jihadist uprisings in the country’s north. A second coup–less than a decade later–ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in August 2020. Elections scheduled for February 2022 have been pushed back to 2026.
“A hasty departure from Mali could have catastrophic consequences for the region but also for the European Union,” said Bausch (déi Gréng) in a statement after meeting members of the defence committee in parliament.
The European Commission earlier this month decided to stop training Mali’s national guard after members of the controversial Kremlin-backed Wagner group were accused of killing civilians alongside EU-trained Malian soldiers.
A Human Rights Watch report alleged that troops, including Russian mercenaries, massacred 300 civilian men over five days at the end of March in Moura, a town in central Mali. The UN has called for an independent report into the atrocities.
Luxembourg troops deployed to Mali in May 2021 with the mission set to end in June this year. The 22 soldiers are among 700 soldiers from 25 EU member countries involved in the training mission.
Rather than withdrawing the grand duchy’s troops, Bausch proposed extending the mission until the end of the year as an evaluation of the training mission is ongoing. “The results of this assessment will allow us to make an informed decision,” he said.
The training of local police continues as well as strategic and tactical advice as the Sahel region battles jihadist insurgency. Mali, together with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger, has formed the G5 Sahel, an anti-jihadist alliance.
Bausch was due to visit Mali from 31 January to 3 February but his trip was postponed over the deteriorating security situation in the country.
Luxembourg also forms part of the UN’s Multidimensional Integration Stabilization Mission in Mali (Minusma), providing satellite communications capacity.
The mission has over 13,000 troops in the country trying to quell violence amid Al-Qaeda and Islamic State uprisings. The mission is one of the deadliest of the UN’s peacekeeping missions with 268 fatalities as of 31 December 2021.
In addition to providing military support, Luxembourg has a development cooperation agreement with Mali, which regulates humanitarian and development assistance.
The government spent around €55m on the third edition of this cooperation agreement, from 2015 until 2019, in support of projects in the areas of education, health and hygiene, and food and water security. The first edition of the agreement launched in 2003, but it has yet to be renewed since the 2020 coup.