"France outside, Barkhane outside, the Malian Armed Forces can secure Mali", "The French government is a brake on our development" or "Down with France, Barkhane must leave", could we read on the placards brandished by Malian demonstrators on the Independence Square, in Bamako, Friday January 10.
Numbering 900, according to the police, and "several thousand", according to the organizers, the demonstrators gathered in the center of the Malian capital, at the call of civil society organizations and political parties, to claim the departure of French troops.
>> To read: Operation Barkhane: is it possible to withdraw French troops from the Sahel?
Despite the presence of French forces (4,500 soldiers from Barkhane), the United Nations (Minusma in Mali, 13,000 men), the G5 Sahel Joint Force and American forces, the Sahelian countries are under increasing attack by jihadists. more frequent and deadly, since the first violence in northern Mali in 2012.
France has invited the presidents of the five Sahelian states - Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad - to a summit on January 13 in Pau to "redefine more clearly the military, political and development objectives" of the common struggle against jihadist groups, according to President Emmanuel Macron, who considers the attitude of the Burkinabè and Malian presidents ambiguous about the presence of French soldiers, criticized by part of the public opinion of these two countries.
With AFP
Newsletter Don't miss anything from international news
Don't miss anything from international newssubscribe
google-play-badge_FR