Minister Margarita Robles yesterday expressed "special concern" that there is in Defense for the situation in the Sahel, after in the last three years five countries have seen their presidents overthrown. The last one, Niger. An increase in instability in the area –converted into a nest of jihadism– that contrasts with the withdrawal that the European missions have made in that 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 firmly betting on security there," said the Minister of Defense yesterday.
Robles, after a visit in command of operations at the Retamares Base in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), wanted to dispel any doubts about the continuity of the Spanish soldiers in the Sahel after rumors among the military of an early withdrawal. “They remain vigilant and without any type of incident, according to what the commanders of the missions with whom he contacted by videoconference told him.
The EUTM Mali mission, which began in 2013 to bolster the capabilities of the country's armed forces, has dwindled dramatically. In Defense they prefer to call it “contraction phase”. In 2021 there were almost 600 Spanish troops working on security, training and air transport. Now there are only 132 left. Although it is true that Spain supports the weight of the mission, made up of a total of 200 soldiers, all of them in Bamako.
For its part, DAT Marfil, based in Dakar, has fifty Spanish uniformed personnel with the main mission of air transport in support of the French armed forces and the United Nations, European Union and G5 Sahel missions.
The contraction of missions in the Sahel contrasts with the commitment to reinforce the eastern flank after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Always within international missions. Next week an A400 refueling plane from Wing 31 with 40 more soldiers will land in Estonia. These will join the Ámbar detachment, which has eight Eurofighter aircraft and 130 soldiers from Wing 11, participating in the air police operation within NATO's deterrence and defense missions. In the last week, this detachment has carried out two actual interception missions to identify Russian aircraft.
