Spain calls on its EU allies to maintain a military presence in Mali

Through a video conference, the Spanish defense minister, Margarita Robles, urged her European partners not to withdraw military troops in Mali, in order to strengthen the fight against terrorism in the Sahel area.

Robles highlighted the importance of maintaining the missions in order to avoid a failure similar to the one that occurred in Afghanistan.

Said arguments were presented at the meeting convened by the Minister of Armed Forces of France, Florence Parly, since Paris and Mali promote diplomatic mediation.

For his part, the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, reported that he will send a specialized team to analyze, together with the Malian government, the conditions of the military presence and thus determine whether they should continue or withdraw.

Germany to date has more than 300 troops in Mali, however, they are considering the option of withdrawing them in favor of the existing diplomatic pulse.

Military power vs political pulse

While Spain has more than 500 soldiers, of which 55% have the training and education of the local armed forces as their mission.

In the case of France, it has troops in its "Barkhane" operation, whose purpose is the fight against terrorism, and in the "Takuba" force, which is made up of several European countries. Despite this, Paris has proposed withdrawal in recent months to strengthen the diplomatic pulse.

terrorism alert

Another point for which Madrid insists on keeping troops on Malian soil is due to the presence of Russian mercenaries belonging to the Wagner group, who were allegedly called by the transitional government led by Colonel Asimi Goita to reinforce Mali's security.

According to the information handled by the United Nations Organization (UN), terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State could have a presence in Mali, with Bamako being the only city free of their existence.