Emmanuel Macron with Florence Parly and Geneviève Darrieussecq, on air base 123 in Orléans-Bricy, January 16, 2020. - Ludovic Marin / AP / SIPA

The French Minister of the Armies Florence Parly announced Monday in Bamako of new military operations to come in the zone known as of the three borders (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) where France and its allies intend to concentrate their efforts against the jihadist expansion.

In Bamako. At the UN headquarters in Mali, with my Swedish, Portuguese and Estonian counterparts. Unpublished format. pic.twitter.com/MbblWjXfzA

- Florence Parly (@florence_parly) January 20, 2020

"New operations will develop in the coming weeks in this very special area of ​​the three borders," Florence Parly told reporters after being received with her Swedish, Estonian and Portuguese counterparts by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. She did not provide further details.

The minister was visiting the sub-region to implement the conclusions of the Pau summit, which a week earlier had brought together French President Emmanuel Macron and his G5 Sahel counterparts (Mali, Niger, Burkina, Chad and Mauritania) faced with the escalation of jihadist violence. Before arriving in Mali on Monday, she was in Chad. His visit coincided with a suicide bombing bearing the mark of Boko Haram that killed nine civilians in the province of Lake Chad.

"Coalition for the Sahel"

In Pau, the presidents had affirmed their desire to focus the military effort on the region of the three borders - an effort actually already underway according to experts - where the deadly attacks of jihadists have been concentrated in recent months. They had designated the group "Islamic State in the Greater Sahara" as the priority enemy.

The Pau summit, supposed to tighten ties in the face of an increasingly palpable anti-French sentiment in the countries concerned, also led to the announcement of the creation of a "coalition for the Sahel" bringing together the G5 Sahel, France, the other partners already committed and all the countries which will want to join it.

This coalition would include the grouping of European special forces Takuba to which Paris is working to rally several countries. Estonia, which is already participating in the French anti-Jihadist Barkhane mission with 50 men, has committed to supplying forty others for Takuba.

  • World
  • Army
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  • Burkina faso
  • Mali
  • jihadism
  • Africa
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Florence Parly