Dutch minister quits over deaths of Mali troops

The Hague, Oct. 4: The Netherlands’ defence minister and the country’s military chief both have resigned following a critical report into a 2016 artillery training accident that killed 2 peacekeeping troops and wounded a third.

Jeanine HennisPlasschaert, who has been a caretaker minister since national elections in March, had been under pressure since the publication last week of the independent Dutch safety board report into the accident in Mali.

Cutting short, at least for now, what many had seen as a promising political career, she announced her resignation in Parliament on Tuesday following a long debate into the report, which criticised the defence ministry for “serious shortcomings” in its care for troops sent on a peacekeeping mission in the African nation. “I have put my heart and soul into serving in the defence ministry,” she told lawmakers. “But it stops here, today.” Ms HennisPlasschaert, who served as minister for five years, told lawmakers that defence chief Gen. Tom

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert resignation in Parliament on Tuesday after a long debate into the report, which criticised the defence ministry for ‘serious shortcomings’ in its care for troops sent on a peacekeeping mission in the African nation

Middendorp also was resigning. He had been due to leave his post later this week anyway, but a ceremony to mark that will no longer take place.

The report said that the two soldiers were killed instantly when a mortar shell exploded prematurely during a training exercise near a Dutch military base in Kidal, Mali.