Germany is seeking to remove its troops from Mali more quickly, in light of the planned completion of the UN peacekeeping mission on 30 June, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told local media.
"For us, this means that we will try to get out even faster, to get out of Mali - but in an orderly way," he told a German broadcaster.
Germany's contingent in Mali, numbering about 1,000 soldiers, serves as part of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which is meant to maintain peace and security in the country gripped by political and social unrest.
However, according to a statement by the Malian Foreign Ministry in mid-June, the mission has failed to adequately respond to the security situation and has instead contributed to escalating tensions. Since making that statement, the Malian Government, as disclosed by the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdoulaye Diop, has asked the UN to withdraw mission's troops.
The vote to end the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali will be held on Friday, according to French media reports.
German Reorientation
In early May, Steffen Hebestreit, speaker of the German government, stated that Berlin had already begun withdrawing troops from the West African country.
Along with the speaker's announcement, the German parliament paved the way for German troops to participate in a European Union training mission in Mali's neighbor Niger.
The motion enables the German government to dispatch up to 60 soldiers as part of a training mission until 31 May 2024, with the possibility of further extensions.
Germany's possible participation in the mission was revealed during a visit by Pistorius to the Nigerian capital Niamey on 12 April.
Before the trip, Pistorius said that the security of the Sahel region "is of special interest to Germany."
"The focus of our future military engagement in the Sahel will be in Niger," he said.