Ein, Zwei, Drei… Germany ready to engage in Mali. It's official…

(BRUXELLES2) Initially reluctant to any intervention in Mali, the German position is changing rapidly and now very openly. In recent days, we have witnessed a veritable burst of government officials, intended to prepare German opinion for an intervention by the Bundeswehr in this Sahelian country. A necessary political preparation because the approval of the Bundestag (the German parliament) is mandatory.

First of all, it was Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle who, in an interview with Bild am Sonntag, speaks precisely about the intervention of the Bundeswehr. But it is above all the Chancellor herself, Angela Merkel, who has stepped up to the plate. Taking advantage of her visit yesterday (October 22) to Strausberg during the day of the Bundeswehr, she thus confirmed that Germany is " ready to participate in a support mission for the Malian armed forces ».

The “Free and democratic states cannot accept that international terrorism finds a sanctuary - and comes to provide itself - in the north of African countries justified the Chancellor. The Malian armed forces are currently " too weak to act and need outside help. It is still necessary that the conditions of this commitment are clarified ».

This morning, it was the turn of the German Minister for Development, Dirk Niebel (FDP), to go one better. " Mali is a country on the edge of the abyss, and we don't want it to become a failed state.", he declared to our colleagues from theARD. " If we lose it, we are threatened with a second Afghanistan ". The radical Islamists, who control the north of the West African country, do not only have Mali as their objective, but " our way of life ". " So we have a fundamental interest here to ensure stability. He also provided some details on the German commitment. " It is above all a training mission, which will be accompanied by military equipment »