Germany To Pull Troops From Mali By End 2023: Govt Source

Sumaira FH Published November 17, 2022 | 02:00 AM

Berlin, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Nov, 2022 ) :Germany will end its participation in a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali by the end of next year, a government source told AFP on Wednesday after months of operational snags.

"By the end of 2023 at the latest, German soldiers are to end their involvement in the UN blue helmet mission MINUSMA," the source said.

Britain and Ivory Coast earlier this week said they would be withdrawing from the mission.

According to the German source, officials from the chancellery, the defence ministry and the foreign ministry have reached an agreement in principle to pull out the troops.

A final decision on whether to continue in Mali will be made next Tuesday at a meeting attended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the source said.

A foreign ministry source said talks were still ongoing and a final decision had not yet been made.

The German military have been in Mali since 2013 with a presence of up to 1,400 soldiers as part of the MINUSMA mission.

The German troops are in part meant to make up for the loss of French soldiers, after Paris pulled out its forces from the country earlier this year.