The hunt continues: The French anti-jihadist force Barkhane has arrested a “cadre” of the Islamic State group in the greater Sahara (EIGS), yet another success in the now-claimed policy of targeting the leaders of the jihadist groups in the area. Dadi Ould Chouaïb, alias Abou Dardar is "also suspected of having mutilated three men on May 2 during the weekly market in Tin Hama (North)", said the French staff in a statement, specifying that the jihadist s 'was rendered without resistance and that he carried "an automatic weapon, a night vision scope, a combat vest, a telephone and a radio".

The arrest took place on June 11 in the morning in the "three borders" area, on the borders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, one of the main areas of action of the jihadist groups established in the Sahel, in particular the 'EIGS.

He had been spotted there by a helicopter during a joint operation between Barkhane and the Nigerien armed forces.

Traded for Sophie Pétronin in 2020

During this same Franco-Nigerien operation, launched on June 8, "a clash took place Tuesday with armed terrorist groups" in the region of Tillabéri (western Niger) bordering Mali, announced on Wednesday a press release from the Nigerien ministry. Defense, referring to a "provisional balance sheet" of a Nigerien death and "twelve terrorists neutralized".

Abu Dardar is a former member of the Movement for Uniqueness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), some of whose executives created the EIGS.

Arrested for the first time in 2014, he was handed over to the Malian authorities.

But he was one of some 200 jihadists released in October 2020 in exchange for four hostages, including the French Sophie Pétronin, at the end of negotiations in which Paris had claimed not to have been associated.

Author of mutilations

On May 2, armed men gathered the crowd at the weekly market in Tin Hama, and presented three men described as thieves, whose right hand and left foot they had cut off, according to information gathered from local interlocutors. speaking on condition of anonymity.

These armed men were presumed to belong to EIGS, the UN Mission (Minusma) said.

According to a security source, since his release in October, “he was a cadi (Islamic judge) in the Ansongo-Ménaka area.

I would qualify him as a second-rank commander, important at the local level, ”she said, also underlining both his long absence from the field and his short-term return which puts his weight in the organization into perspective.

"Behead these organizations" -

His questioning is nonetheless welcome for France, whose President Emmanuel Macron had promised in February, during a summit with the heads of state of the region, "an enhanced action" to "try to behead these organizations ”, of which“ the highest hierarchy continues to feed a jihadist agenda ”.

Paris has therefore since adopted a strategy aimed primarily at chefs.

Barkhane has just called for the elimination of a cadre of the Al-Qaeda group in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an opponent of the EIGS in the area.

Baye Ag Bakabo was responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French RFI journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, murdered in Kidal (northern Mali) on November 2, 2013.

France gives up securing the area

Operation Barkhane, now officially promised for an imminent end, will be replaced by a lighter international support and combat support system for troops from countries in the region, at the cost of a rise in power hoped for by Europeans and a major investment by the states concerned. France thus gives up trying to secure large semi-desert areas where the States are unable to maintain a foothold, in order to concentrate on the targeted fight against the jihadists and the support of local forces. A reorientation that comes as the 2022 presidential election draws closer in France, where this military commitment raises growing questions, especially with regard to the 50 soldiers killed in action since 2013.

But the impending closure of French bases in Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit raises fears that northern Mali will pass completely into the hands of jihadist groups, as the central state seems unable to restore its authority in these vast desert bands and very poor.

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  • Jihadism

  • Islamist

  • Army

  • Mali

  • Sahel

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