Mali soldiers «peaceable» says Estonian officer

Photo: Janek Bagirov

Six instructors sent to Mali a first for Estonian Defence Forces.

In training, it needs to be considered that Mali soldiers’ aggressiveness is under average, the Southern Malians being peaceable farmers, says Captain Jüri Tõnisma, head of Estonia’s initial team of military instructors sent to Mali a couple weeks ago.

While the Estonian staff officer and staff non-commissioned officer, sent to Mali under EU’s EUTM mission this spring, served at the mission’s headquarters in Bamako, the instructors are based 59 kilometres from the capital, in Koulikoro. The town, on the banks of Niger River, is the end station of the Dakar-Niger railway completed in 1905.

«Compared to Islam in Middle-East and Asia, the faith here is not that evident in street view,» Capt Tõnisma tells Postimees is his written reply. «Downtown, ladies wear no face covers, most have their hair uncovered; alcohol ads can be seen; in villages, people raise pigs.»

Regarding local life, he mentions occasional sightings of superstition. «For instance: to the Keitha mountain next to the camp, soldiers bearing the same family name dare not go. It is believed they will vanish there: a couple of centuries ago, they say, king Keitha vanished on the mountain,» he explains.

The six Estonians, our first mission purely dedicated to training others, has been entrusted to drill an infantry platoon. Together with Finns, Swedes, Lithuanians and Latvians, the Estonians are part of Nordic-Baltic training team.

Southern Mali, with its approximately 14.5 million inhabitants, is mostly populated by blacks; in the North, however, whence the civil war was initiated, has settlements of Tuaregs and Arabians.

For the most part, the Mali army is composed by blacks, from the south. No Arabians nor Tuaregs are to be found amongst soldiers trained by Estonians. «The trainees come from ten Southern-Mali tribes, with no conflicts between them. All there is is friendly teasing, as common between neighbours,» described Capt Tõnisma.

The Estonians work in English, interpreted into French. French being the official language in Mali, not all are fluent in it – therefore, at times, the trainees help each other out with the Bambara tongue.

«Member of rank has been subjected to four months of single combatant training under local instructors; squad leaders have served for two years and undergone squad leader training; platoon commander has graduated from the local Military Academy,» says he, regarding the level of the trainees.

According to the Estonian officer, he has not detected any difficulties with Mali soldiers grasping specific skills. «In the local military culture, reading a topographical map is not required from rank and file,» he adds, however. «International military justice is something that needs emphasising regarding to local background, explaining the need for it.»

EU launched its training mission EUTM Mali this February. To begin with, Estonia put in two servicemen at the mission HQ, in Bamako. Now, Estonia has increased its input, adding six instructors in Koulikoro.

Two months before EUTM Mali came into being, France sent its troops to aid central power at Bamako, within Operation Serval. Even with direct threat to central power currently over, the French units are still fighting islamists in the northern part of the country, within Serval, together with Mali and Chad troops. Step by step, work done by Serval is supposed to be taken over by UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA.

Estonian unit

Instructors serving within EUTM Mali:

• Captain Jüri Tõnisma (45)

from: The Guard Battalion (Vahipataljon)

earlier missions: twice Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Senior Warrant Officer Aivar Pennert (35)

from: The Guard Battalion (Vahipataljon)

earlier missions: Kosovo, Afghanistan

• Senior Warrant Officer Andres Riisaar (36)

from: Air Surveillance Division

earlier foreign missions: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo

• Warrant Officer Kainar Kruus (32)

from: Defence League, Tallinn District

earlier missions: Iraq and Afghanistan

• Junior Warrant Officer Veiko Virunurm (29)

from: Air Surveillance Division

earlier missions: Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo

• Junior Warrant officer Janek Bagirov (30)

from: 1^st Infantry Brigade

at his first mission