Minister Margarita Robles yesterday expressed the “special concern” of Defense for the situation in the Sahel, after five countries have seen their presidents overthrown in the last three years. The last, Niger. An increase in instability in the area – turned into a nest of jihadism – which contrasts with the withdrawal of European missions in this territory. While partners such as France or Germany have reduced their presence to a minimum, Spain will maintain its contingents in Mali and Senegal. “We are betting firmly on security there”, assured the head of Defense yesterday.
Robles, after a visit to the operations command at the Retamares base in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), wanted to dispel any doubts about the continuity of Spanish soldiers in the Sahel after rumors among the military of a rapid withdrawal. “They remain vigilant and without any kind of incident”, according to what the mission commanders with whom Robles contacted by video conference told him.
The EUTM Mali mission, which began in 2013 to strengthen the capabilities of the country’s armed forces, has dwindled dramatically. The Ministry of Defense prefers to call it the “contraction phase”. In 2021 there were almost 600 Spanish soldiers deployed in security, training and air transport tasks. Now there are only 132 left. Although it is also true that Spain bears the weight of the mission, consisting of a total of 200 soldiers, all in Bamako.
For its part, the DAT Marfil, based in Dakar, has fifty Spanish uniforms with the main mission of air transport in support of the armed forces of France and the missions of the United Nations, the European Union and the G-5 of the Sahel.
The contraction of the missions in the Sahel contrasts with the commitment to strengthen the eastern flank after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Always within international missions. Next week, an A400 supply plane from the 31st Wing will land in Estonia with 40 other military personnel. These will be added to the Ámbar detachment, which has eight Eurofighter aircraft and 130 military personnel from the 11th Wing who participate in the air policing operation within NATO’s deterrence and defense missions. In the last week, this detachment has flown two actual intercept missions to identify Russian aircraft.
