Swedish Armed Forces are now in Mali
Sweden becomes the fourth country to join Task Force Takuba with special forces troops, along with France, Estonia and the Czech Republic. A spokesman for the Swedish Armed Forces has confirmed that most of the 150 troops they plan to deploy are already in Mali, and that the contingent will be complete by the end of February.
Sweden is one of the countries that pledged to answer France's call to share the effort in the Sahel. France maintains a total of 4,500 troops in the framework of Operation Barkhane, in addition to ground and air assets, to which are added a further 600 troops from a temporary increase exactly one year ago, which will be gradually withdrawn in the coming weeks, as announced by Emmanuel Macron.
Because of this huge presence, which costs France 1 billion euros a year, Paris has been trying for a long time to share the economic and human effort. To this end, the TF Takuba was created, a force that is integrated into Operation Barkhane, but which is made up of French elements as well as troops from other countries. More than a dozen European countries decided to support this initiative, including Germany and the United Kingdom, but many of them have limited themselves, at least for now, to political support. And only three of them, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Sweden, have so far increased their commitment with a presence on the ground.
The Swedish parliament last June approved a decision taken a few months earlier, in March 2020. The Swedish forces' mandate entails the presence of 150 special forces troops and three Blackhawk helicopters, a noteworthy aspect applauded by France. The mandate is due to expire on 31 December, with the possibility of an additional 100 troops.
The objective of the TF Takuba is to accompany and advise the Malian forces in the operations they carry out, as well as to act as a rapid response in case of need or an appeal by the Malian armed forces. The Swedish contingent will be based in Ménaka, a town in the east of the country very close to the border with Niger, in the Liptako-Gourma region, one of the regions most affected by jihadist terrorism.
At present, the Czech and Estonian forces, together with French and Malian forces, have formed two action groups. The Franco-Czech group is also based in Ménaka, while the Franco-Estonian group operates from Gao. Other countries are expected to join TF Takuba in the coming months. One of them, Italy, will contribute a large contingent of up to 200 troops, with some twenty ground assets and eight helicopters. Other countries, such as Portugal, Greece and even Ukraine, are also considering sending troops.
Spain, for its part, has not expressed its intention to support TF Takuba even at the political level. For many years, France has been asking Spain for greater involvement in the region, beyond the very important logistical support it provides from Senegal with the Marfil detachment. However, Spain is reluctant to act in an operation that is not under the umbrella of any organisation of which it is a member, so its commitment will foreseeably continue to be limited to its presence in Senegal and to the activity carried out by EUTM-Mali, whose mandate has been extended and where Spain, even before doubling its contingent, was already the main contributor.
