Germany to speed up withdrawal from Mali as U.N. mission ends - def min

FILE PHOTO: German Defence minister Boris Pistorius arrives for the European Air Defence Conference gathering 18 Defence ministers, at Les Invalides in Paris on June 19, 2023. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday that Germany is looking to pull its soldiers out of Mali faster, though still in an ordered manner, in light of the planned end of a United Nations peacekeeping mission on June 30.

"For us, this means that we will try to get out even faster, to get out of Mali but in an orderly way," he said.