German general warns of growing Russian influence Africa
The commander of the German Army’s (Bundeswehr) Operations Command, Bernd Schütt, warned of the increasing Russian military influence in African countries.
The Lieutenant General said in statements to the German News Agency, that this indicates that international crisis management, national defense and alliance defense are linked to each other.
He added, “The need to be able to deal with both matters militarily at the same time represents a major challenge, not only for the German Armed Forces; Purely focusing on national defense and the defense of alliances according to the slogan private interest is more important won’t work”.
The operational command of the German army is stationed at the Henning von Tresckow barracks in the Schwielowsee area, near the city of Potsdam.
The German army is witnessing a process of reorientation due to the Russian war on Ukraine and after the end of the main foreign missions in Afghanistan and Mali.
This process is focused on defending Germany and its NATO partners, as it’s the main old and new mission of the army.
This process is based on a political evaluation of each of the tasks in which the army participates, based on available military interests and capabilities.
Lieutenant General Schütt stated that after the military coups that West Africa witnessed in recent years, “Russia gradually expanded its influence and replaced Western and European countries in the presence in the region,” adding that the Russian presence “forms a land belt that can extend almost from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea”.
He said, “Russia is militarily active in Burkina Faso and Mali… There are signs of the start of military cooperation in Niger… Meetings are taking place at the political level in Chad… In Sudan, we don’t yet know exactly how things will develop… Russian forces have been active in Libya since 2016”.
Lieutenant General Schütt believes that Russia’s original intention in this is to fill the gaps related to security policy, and he said, “It’s not about turning the situation around in one big blow, but rather constantly changing it to its advantage and warding off Western influence; To do this, Russia is immediately and targeted exploiting the current vacuum”.
