Berlin -
Germany is prepared to help Mali's government reconquer the north from Islamist radicals, but will not provide fighting troops or weapons, a minister said Tuesday.
Most of the aid would take the form of training, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
“We'll possibly help too with logistics, technically and financially,” he said after talks with the UN special envoy for the region, Romano Prodi.
German training and logistics personnel were being prepared for deployment to participate in a proposed European Union mission to help Mali government forces against the rebels, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday.
“Free, democratic nations cannot allow international terrorism to obtain a safe haven in the north of the country,” Merkel told a meeting of armed forces officers near Berlin. “We know that the military forces of Mali are too weak to act. They need support.”
EU foreign ministers were to discuss whether to approve the support plan on November 19.
The EU mission would itself be in the context of an intervention by the African Union, which said it would put its plan for an international military mission to its own Peace and Security Council on Wednesday, before forwarding it to the UN Security Council for approval.
Meanwhile, Prodi said the emphasis should be on negotiation, not troops.
“We want a settlement, not military intervention,” the UN official said. Westerwelle added that “the focus on the military discussion is not appropriate and very premature.”
Westerwelle said such an operation must be African-led.
“We're extremely concerned about the situation in Northern Mali. The human rights situation, the security situation, the humanitarian situation - they are all worrying,” he said. - Sapa-dpa