MADRID, 2 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spain has announced a significant reduction in its military presence in Mali, with which the contingent will remain at 68 percent of the troops it had just a year ago. The Government has adopted this decision despite its insistence on a necessary European presence in the Sahel zone and while waiting to decide on its participation in the new European Union mission in Niger.
The year 2022 began with a Spanish deployment of 500 soldiers in Mali. However, the unstable situation in the country and the paralysis of the European Union mission caused a first reduction in May with the withdrawal of the helicopter unit, which left the contingent at around 350 troops.
Now, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, announced a new cut that will leave the contingent with approximately 160 troops. Like the rest of the European troops, the Spanish will not carry out operational activities and will limit themselves to advisory and support tasks.
The EU has adopted this formula as a way of maintaining a minimal presence in Mali, a key country in the Sahel but where the situation has deteriorated with two consecutive coups and the arrival of a military junta hostile to Europe that has not given security guarantees to the European mission. Added to this is the growing Russian influence in the country, either through its Army or through the Wagner group of mercenaries.
With all this, France completed the withdrawal of all its troops from the Barkhane mission in August to combat terrorism in the country after almost a decade of presence and Germany and the Czech Republic have also withdrawn their military from the EUTM Mali European mission.
Spain, however, has always defended the need not to withdraw completely to continue trying to open democratic paths in its institutions and not leave the way clear for Russia.
In exchange, the EU has agreed to a new military mission of logistical support and advice to the Niger Army, through a military association that seeks to improve the capacity to combat jihadism in the Sahel region, in which both the subsidiary of Al Qaeda, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).
This new operation seeks to relocate Niger as the operations center for the security scenario in the Sahel, although the mission will not exactly replace the one in Mali, since it will not carry out large-scale troop training tasks nor will it imply a large deployment of forces European.
Spain has not yet decided on its participation in this new mission, in which, in any case, the EU does not anticipate a massive landing of troops and calculates that it can reach a maximum presence of 300 European troops. For now, the government has been open to assessing the possibility of sending troops.
