Dutch commission slams military over safety standards
A Dutch commission appointed after the death of two soldiers during a training exercise in Mali in 2016 slammed defence officials on Friday for exercising "insufficient control over occupational safety". The two UN peacekeepers were killed outright and a third Dutch soldier, who was filming at the time, was seriously injured when a mortar detonated prematurely during a training exercise at Kidal in northwestern Mali. The July 2016 incident triggered major soul-searching within the Dutch defence ministry and led to the resignation of minister Jeanine Hennis in October, who admitted she was "politically responsible". The defence ministry "is insufficiently in control when it comes to occupational safety," the four-person commission said in its 20-page report, which it handed over to newly-appointed Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld. "Occupational safety can and must improve," said the report which made several recommendations. These included fostering greater security awareness through such things as "safety awareness days" within the military and creating an internal safety board to enforce standards. "Attention to improving safety standards to prevent injury is essential. Improving safety standards is not 'rocket science'," the report pointed out. The 2016 incident was also probed by the Dutch Safety Board last year, who said there had been "serious shortcomings" which led to the deaths of the men. It found that the military had been using stocks of old shells bought in 2006 "with the help of the US Department of Defense amid a pressure of time" to supply the Dutch mission as part of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan. During the munitions purchase, the Dutch defence ministry "omitted to carry out its own procedures and controls ... as it assumed the US Army was already using the ammunition and had carried out safety tests," the OVV said at the time. The Netherlands has been part of the UN stabilisation mission in Mali (MINUSMA) since April 2014, and had deployed some 400 troops, four Apache helicopters and three Chinooks to the west African nation. The UN mission was deployed in Mali in July 2013 as part of an international effort against jihadist groups which had overrun the country's northern territory. Since being deployed there, at least 80 UN peacekeepers have been killed, making it the most costly UN mission in terms of human life since Somalia (1993-1995).
