12th EUTM Mali (European Union Training Mission)

The 26th May 2018 was a very important day for the Spanish contingent in the Training Mission of the European Union EUTM-Mali. During the day, a ceremony took place in the Koulikoro Training Centre (KTC), which had three motives: to materialise the replacement of the commandant on the Force Protection Unit , to honour those who gave their lives for Spain and to celebrate the Day of the Armed Forces.

The Mision commandant, general Enrique Millán Martínez led the ceremony. The Spanish ambassador Miguel Gómez de Aranda alongside other civil and military authorities attended the event as well as all the the personal from the Education and Training Military Unit, whose commander was in charge of the training.

The ceremony began with the replacement of the commandant of the Force Protection Unit followed by the Actos de los Caídos ( Act of the Fallen) in which a special mention was made for the Navy Marine Antonio Carrero.

The training served as a farewell to the last parts of the XI Spanish contingent of EUTM-Mali, formed from La Legion and Tercio de la Armada which has now been relieved by the personnel of the 6th Brigade “Almogávares” of Paratroopers and the new personnel of Tercio de la Armada.

As General Millán stated "after many months of sessions of dedicated instructions to our Malian comrades, after numerous officers and bodyguards facing adverse climates, "Mali XI" gives Spain the satisfaction of having fullfilled their duty"

Since 31st January, the general Enrique Millán has been in charge of the Training Mision of the European Union in Mali(EUTM-Mali). This is the second time that Spain commands the mission.

At present, soldiers are deployed in the Operations Area in the Multinational Headquarters of the mision and in the Advisory Task Force in Bamako. They are also deployed in the Training Task Force (TTF), the Mixed Protection Company, in the Instructor Teams of Special Operations, with personnel from The Special Operational Command and from the Artillery & Mortar Unit in Koulikoro. Finally, with the addition of the a Spanish official in the Strategic Cell in Brussels a coordination of the highest level of this operation can be carried out.

Since April 2013, Spain has taken part in the European Union Mission ‘EUTM-Malí’, when the first contigent was made up of 50 troops. Subsequently, after an agreement with the Council of Ministers on 7th June of the same year, the number of troops increased up to 110 due to the large Spanish involvement in the training.

The main Spanish contingent in Mali is distributed between the localities of Bamako -where the mission headquarters are located - and in Koulikoro where the majority of the personal dedicated to the training of the Malian military and force protection are located.  Other training activities have also been extended to other areas of Mali.

During 2017, 451 Spanish military participated in the mission, mainly the Spanish Army who trained 2,100 Malian soldiers of the more than 11,500 trained by the personal of the mission.

At present, "EUTM-Mali" is made up of 581 soldiers from 28 countries, 22 of which belong to the European Union, five which are not members and one African country.