Trunov Philipp Olegovich – Ph.D. in Political Sciences, senior researcher, INION RAN
Currently, the foreign policy of Germany has a tendency to increase the importance of the African vector. One of the key reasons for this is the growing scale of security threats and challenges projected onto Germany and other EU countries from unstable states located north of the Sahara. In this regard the article tries to explore German approach towards management of the armed conflict in Mali. The main research methods are event analysis and comparative analysis. The two main components of the conflict are Tuareg separatism in Northern Mali and the activities of international terrorist structures (Ansar Ad-Din, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) in the Malian subregion. The paper explores the dynamics of the military-political efforts of Germany to solve these problems. The Bundeswehr was involved in two Malian missions: the militarytraining EUTM Mali and the peacekeeping MINUSMA. The article notes that at the initial stages of the armed conflict management (2013–2015), the German military were used for the «discharging» of the French troops (first of all during the Operation Serval). Since 2016, Germany has been actively increasing its political-military efforts in Mali. The main reason for this is the desire to avoid a regression in the armed conflict management against the backdrop of insufficient efforts by partner states. By 2018, Germany has become the «framework nation» in the EUTM Mali mission, and then in the MINUSMA mission in most key areas. The paper also explores Germany’s main steps to support inter-Malian dialogue (primarily to address the «Tuareg issue») and to strengthen the structure of state power in Mali. This country is the example of practical cooperation of the UN – EU – AU «triangle» organized by Germany. At the same time, growing number of challenges are being observed in the armed conflict management in Mali. In this regard, the article covers the dilemmas of FRG’s policy in this African country.
Germany, foreign policy, armed conflict management, Mali, the UN – EU – AU «triangle».
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