By Gaëlle LaleixPosted on 01-08-2019Modified on 01-08-2019 at 09:21
It is the largest foreign operation in which the French army is engaged. Barkhane is now 5 years old. Some 4,500 French soldiers are deployed in five countries: Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, for an annual budget of 700 million euros. Served after Mali's Operation Serval, Barkhane was to initiate a stabilization phase, but five years later, the operation seems to have become stagnant.
When it is launched, Operation Barkhane has a clear goal: to fight terrorism in the Sahel, to prevent it from knocking on Europe's doorstep. " The purpose of this presence is to prevent the highway of all traffic from becoming a permanent crossing point for reconstitution of jihadist groups, which would have serious consequences for our security ", explains in August 2014 on the antenna of BFM, Jean-Yves Le Drian, then Minister of Defense.
Barkhane intervenes after Serval, an operation launched a year and a half earlier to block the advance on Bamako, terrorist groups from northern Mali. With Serval " we have prevented the creation of what is called a Sahelistan , explains on our antenna in 2016 , General Patrick Brethous then commander of Barkhane. Three years later, the situation is stabilized in Mali. There is a peace agreement that is signed and implemented. There are still some resurgences and it is against these irreducible ones that we fight. "
The rise of the Sahelian armies
In parallel, France and its European partners must accompany the training of the armies of the Sahel countries, and their rise in power. A policy that culminates with the launch, in July 2017, of the joint force of the G5 Sahel, arm of a political entity launched a few years ago.
The G5 Sahel project is ambitious: the armies of the five countries must pool men and means , under a single command, to fight terrorism in the region, at the borders of each state.
" One day or another the operation Barkhane will end , announced General Patrick Brethous. We are probably here for a few months or a few years, and as time goes by, Barkhane will gradually give way to self-reliance in these countries . "
Conflict mutation
The sequence of events did not prove the French plan that ran up against two major difficulties.
First on the operational level: Barkhane had some victories. The operation has weakened the EIGS (Islamic State in the Great Sahara) in the region of Menaka, in eastern Mali, but the terrorist groups have been able to adapt. " Barkhane, in a sense, has changed the situation in the Sahel ," says Mahamoudou Savadogo, a researcher on security issues in Burkina Faso. But the terrorists have been able to adapt. They changed their mode of operation, became more mobile using motorcycles. In addition, they moved, broadly extending the front of the fighting. "
The terrorists have withdrawn to northern Burkina Faso and even invested in the east of the country, which is experiencing a resurgence of unprecedented violence in recent months.
Another major change is that jihadist groups have adopted the " community terrorism " strategy. " They integrate within populations and use them to achieve their goal, " says Mahamoudou Savadogo.
For two years, the center of Mali, and today the North of Burkina Faso, have experienced an outbreak of intercommunal violence. The massacre of the Malian village of Ogossagou in March killed nearly 160 people. That of Arbinda in Burkina, more than 60. Terrorists are exploiting old tensions and conflicts over natural resources are turning into tragedies. People find themselves between the hammer and the anvil: accused by some of collaborating with terrorists and others to be sold to foreign forces.
" The intercommunal violence, it is really the major risk, explains the general Frederic Blachon in April on our antenna . We know after the cycle of reprisals so it's really the obsession of all armed forces. These inter-community battles can have a lot of reasons, and it's up to us to avoid adding more, "concludes the then-commander of Barkhane.
silting
While the conflict changes its face, the rise of the G5 Sahel, still not progressing, lack of funding.
Worse, some armies in Sahelian countries, far from having improved their operational capabilities, have lost a lot of credit in the burrs and human rights abuses pointed out by NGOs. Mass graves, discovered last year in central Mali provoke outrage. In its investigation report on the Boulikessi events in May 2018, Minusma, the UN peacekeeping force, concludes " summary executions of civilians by Malian soldiers of the G5 Sahel joint force " . Barkhane's exit plan seems more and more complicated.
An anti-French feeling
As the terrorist threat spreads, attacks continue, civilians die in inter-communal conflict without provoking investigation or punishment, the presence of a foreign force is increasingly difficult for local populations to accept who do not see the situation improve.
In Mali in particular, Barkhane and Minusma are more and more criticized. There is a real misunderstanding of the action and mandate of these foreign forces.
" When there were French hostages in Benin, the French force intervened quickly , explains Boureima Allaye Toure, president of the National Council of the civil society of Mali. But when a Malian village is attacked, and for a whole night, and half a day, nobody intervenes, we say that there is a weight and two measures. We do not know all the political strings around that. But we, ordinary citizens of the street, we do not understand. The National Council of the civil society of Mali, asks today that an audit is done of the foreign armed presence on the national territory.
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