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International
-DW News
Berlin,
Feb
22:
German
President
Frank-Walter
Steinmeier
called
for
greater
cooperation
between
Europe
and
Senegal
on
Monday
as
President
Macky
Sall
welcomed
him
to
the
capital
Dakar
with
military
honors
to
kick
off
a
three-day
trip
to
the
West
African
nation.
“For
all
the
differences
that
exist:
We
must
find
the
way
to
a
closer,
fruitful
partnership,”
Steinmeier
said
after
talks
with
President
Sall
as
he
praised
the
nation
for
its
“key”
role
as
a
stable
democracy
in
the
region.
Steinmeier
added
that
he
hoped
to
facilitate
a
“new
impetus
to
the
long-standing
close
partnership
between
Germany
and
Senegal.”
Senegal
wants
Germany
to
keep
troops
in
Mali
Steinmeier
spoke
of
the
tense
security
situation
currently
dominating
the
entire
Sahel
region,
especially
in
neighboring
Mali.
Sall,
as
the
current
chair
of
the
African
Union
(AU),
had
spoken
about
the
situation
in
Mali
at
length
with
EU
partners
in
Brussels
last
week
when
France
announced
it
would
be
withdrawing
troops
in
the
wake
of
a
military
coup
there
that
looks
set
to
cement
the
power
of
the
ruling
junta.
Steinmeier
said
Germany
was
“earnestly”
weighing
its
next
moves
regarding
the
deployment
of
troops
in
the
region
after
France’s
announced
withdrawal.
But
Sall
implored,
“Mali
cannot
be
abandoned.
You
have
to
maintain
your
presence
in
the
Sahel.
Africa
needs
it,”
adding,
“we
need
European
forces,
MINUSMA
and
Germany
in
Mali.”
Germany
currently
has
some
1,170
soldiers
deployed
to
Mali
as
part
of
the
United
Nations
peacekeeping
mission,
known
as
MINUSMA.
A
further
328
troops
are
part
of
the
EU
military
training
mission
in
Mali,
or
EUTM.
But
France’s
announcement
last
week
cast
the
future
of
Germany’s
military
engagement
into
doubt.
German
Defense
Minister
Christine
Lambrecht
is
“skeptical”
about
continued
participation
in
the
EU
training
mission
and
has
questioned
whether
Germany
should
remain
committed
to
MINUSMA
without
French
support.
A
final
decision
on
the
deployment
of
Bundeswehr
soldiers
to
the
region
rests
with
Germany’s
parliament,
the
Bundestag,
which
is
scheduled
to
vote
on
extending
the
country’s
participation
in
both
missions
in
May.
Neighboring
Mali
has
struggled
to
contain
an
Islamic
insurgency
that
began
in
2012
before
spreading
to
Burkina
Faso
and
Niger
and
triggering
a
wider
destabilization
in
the
region.
One
reaction
has
been
a
wave
of
military
coups
across
the
region.
Thousands
of
soldiers
and
civilians
have
been
killed
and
around
two
million
people
displaced
by
the
Sahel-wide
conflict
with
jihadists.
Vaccine
cooperation
between
the
EU
and
Africa
One
other
major
topic
of
conversation
between
the
two
politicians
was
that
of
vaccine
assistance.
Africa
has
long
bemoaned
the
EU’s
lack
of
help
when
it
comes
to
supplying
vaccines
against
the
coronavirus,
and
more
precisely,
its
refusal
to
waive
patents
governing
vaccine
production.
President
Sall
was
quick
to
emphasize
that
Africans
are
not
looking
for
vaccine
handouts,
but
rather
want
to
be
able
to
make
their
own
jabs.
That
now
looks
more
likely
after
German
vaccine-maker
BioNTech
recently
unveiled
mobile
labs
that
could
jumpstart
vaccine
production
in
Senegal,
Rwanda
and
South
Africa.
Steinmeier,
who
will
visit
the
site
of
the
new
BioNTech
facility
on
Tuesday,
said
the
project,
coordinated
with
the
Institut
Pasteur
de
Dakar,
could
make
“vaccines
produced
for
Africa
in
Africa”
a
reality.
Steinmeier
also
laid
the
cornerstone
of
Germany’s
new
Goethe
Institute
in
Dakar
Monday.
He
is
only
the
second
German
president
to
make
a
state
visit
to
Senegal,
the
first
being
Heinrich
Lübke
in
1962.
Source: DW
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