Germany’s Gazelle in Africa fights Berlin’s isolation and terrorism as well

Ahmed Adel

The German Bundestag announced on Sunday, April 30, the approval of the deployment of its forces in Niger to start participating in a new mission, which is training military forces under the supervision of the European Union.

The decision revealed the number of forces participating in the new military training mission, reaching 60 soldiers, as permitted by the German government, and according to what was announced by the parliament. The decision expires in May 2024, with the possibility of renewal.

In August 2019, in the presence of the head of the G5, former Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Kabore, and French President Emmanuel Macron, former Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Germany’s intention to further strengthen forces to combat terrorism and extremism in the West African region. She stressed that development and economic investment will play a prominent role in stopping the increase and spread of terrorist organizations in the region, noting that this development is matched by strengthening the security presence in the region as a whole.

In 2017, Merkel revealed that her country had granted approximately €1.7 million to support the West African Group in the war against terrorist organizations in the region, while providing means of security and safety in the region.

The German army is present in the African Sahel and Sahara region through the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), where the German army has an air base used to transfer people and materials to and from Niger. The base also works to secure care for the wounded, and the German army participates in the European Union training mission with about 150 soldiers. This mission aims to make the Malian forces able to provide their own security in the country.

MINUSMA, as one of the largest forces in the West African region, participates in the war on terrorism and supports ceasefire agreements and confidence-building measures, with 11,000 soldiers from the international organization stationed in Mali, in addition to nearly 1,500 police and civilians.

Since 2013, the initial EU forces participated in the mission to train the Malian forces and the G5 forces in West Africa to combat terrorist and extremist organizations in that region.

Operation Gazelle

For his part, Islam Fikri Najm al-Din, a researcher of African affairs, said that the German participation with special training forces in Niger is part of Operation Gazelle, which was launched by the European Union in Niger and West African countries to combat Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and ISIS. Operation Gazelle is part of the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), which includes approximately 1,400 German soldiers in accordance with the decision of the German parliament. Germany had previously withdrawn its military mission from Mali following the recent coup and the emergence of Russian Wagner Group forces in Mali.

Najm al-Din confirmed in a special statement to the Reference that Germany’s participation is a new German policy after Berlin discovered that hiding behind German borders is a huge strategic mistake. Germany is a country of scarce wealth, and it must establish its chains of influence in its former colonies and restore its economic network, which did not achieve more flow of raw materials and energy to reduce the need for Russia, especially following the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian war, in which Germany is one of the largest countries that support Ukraine militarily, whether directly or by allowing German companies to sell their weapons to Ukraine.

He added that Germany’s current policy is to abandon the military and security caveats that prevailed during the Cold War and beyond, and to shift to a policy of active interaction with global issues and to secure energy lines and vital resources necessary for German industry.