During a visit to Mali on Saturday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht demanded that an investigation be launched into the “horrors” reported in mid-March in Moura (central), which intensified the questioning of the commitment of the in the country of the Sahel.
The military junta in Bamako has claimed that its forces “neutralized” 203 jihadists in late March in Moura; civilians from the Mali army and foreign military.
Ms Lambrecht called for a “full and transparent” investigation into the incident yesterday.
The question now is “whether we want to support this regime,” the defense minister explained during a visit to German military bases in Gao (north), according to a statement from her services.
“We see that the Malian soldiers have been excellently trained by the German military (…) and then go with these capabilities to joint missions with, for example, Russian forces, or even mercenaries,” the Social Democrat minister continued.
“The question now is whether this is compatible with our values, especially when we see atrocities like those in Moura,” Ms. Lambrecht added.
France and the West complain that the Mali authorities have hired, as they say, the Russian private military company Wagner Group, whose action is highly controversial. Bamako says he has not hired mercenaries, citing Mali’s military cooperation with Russia.
Germany recently made it clear that it would reconsider its troop stay in Mali, following the announcement in February that France would withdraw its own forces.
The German Armed Forces is currently participating in two missions in the country: 328 of them are part of the EU training mission in Mali (EUTM) and another 1,170 are in the so-called multidimensional integrated United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
Another key question is who will succeed France in managing Gao airport, the German Minister of Defense noted yesterday.
In May, members of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, will decide whether or not the German armed forces will continue to participate in the two missions to Mali.
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