German focus on Mali

She was due to hold talks in the Malian capital on Monday evening with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and officials of the UN's 10,000-strong blue helmet mission MINUSMA.

Von der Leyen's trip coincides with a scheduled transfer of command of the European Training Mission in Mali (EUTM), to Bundeswehr Brigadier-General Franz Xaver Pfrengle on Tuesday.

He takes over leadership of EUTM from his colleague Spanish college Alfonso Garcia-Vaquero Pradal.

EUTM, was mandated two years ago to train Malian forces in the wake of France's military intervention in its former colony in early 2013, which had halted an advance by Islamist extremist advance from Mali's north.

Tuareg rebels, who also asserted control in Mali's north, recently signed a peace accord.

In April 2012, jihadist groups, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine, had tried to impose their brutal version of Sharia law on northern Malians after an army coup in the south of the country.

Mission based in Niger river town

EUTM is based at the Niger river town of Koulikoro, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Bamako. Bundeswehr medics are also assigned to a field hospital on site.

So far, EUTM, comprising soldiers assigned from 20 EU nations as well as aspirants Serbian and Montenegro, has trained 5,500 Malian troops in infantry tactics and logistics.

A week ago, Mali's army said its troops had destroyed insurgent camps near the country's southern border with Ivory Coast and killed several jihadists.

It also said 20 suspected jihadists entering from Ivory Coast were intercepted in Mali's Sikasso region. All were thought to have links to a Pakistan-affiliated sect called Tabligh, it said.

Mausoleums restored in Timbuktu

The UN's cultural organization UNESCO announced a week ago that it had helped restore 14 mausoleums destroyed by jihadists in Mali's northern city of Timbuktu, a World Heritage place of learning and trade dating back to the Middle Ages.

Local craftsmen were hired to rebuild the mausoleums. Technical and financial contributions were made by the EU as a whole as well as France, Norway and Switzerland.

Small groups of Islamists in Mali's north reportedly have continued to stage occasional attacks in the vast desert region.

Germany also has seven soldiers assigned with command and support functions to the UN stabilization mission MINUSMA in Bamako.

German to increase military spending

Shortly after taking office in late 2013, German Defense Minister von der Leyen was told by external experts that Germany's post-Cold War military had major equipment deficits.

The crisis over Ukraine between NATO and Russia also prompted calls for investments in Bundeswehr rearmaments.

Germany's spending on its armed forces is due to increase from 33 billion euros to 35 billion euros ($37 billion to $39 billion) by 2019 in line with Germany's pledge to play a larger role in global security.

ipj/kms (Reuters, dpa, AFP)