Emmanuel Macron and the heads of state of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad meet, Tuesday, June 30, in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, six months after the promises exchanged in Pau. The French President and the President of the Spanish Government Pedro Sanchez make their first trip to Africa since the coronavirus crisis on the occasion of this G5 Sahel summit. 

On January 13, the Pau summit was organized after a series of setbacks by the region's armies against the jihadists, the death of 13 French soldiers in operation and the questioning of French intervention. The G5 Sahel heads of state and the French ally then decided to focus their action against the Islamic State organization in the "three-border area" (Mali, Burkina, Niger), under joint command of the French force. Barkhane and the G5 Sahel anti-Jihadist force.

Consolidate achievements

France, its African partners, as well as the heads of government from Germany, Spain and Italy who will join the meeting by videoconference, should therefore take stock of the development of the situation in the region and the commitments made in January.  

In the past six months, France has increased Barkhane's strength from 500 soldiers to 5,100. Barkhane and his partners have multiplied since the offensives in the area of ​​the three borders, claiming the "neutralization" of hundreds of jihadists . In Nouakchott, according to the Élysée Palace, it will open a "period of consolidation" in this region.

They will probably welcome the successes recorded during this period, including the neutralization of the head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi), the Algerian Abdelmalek Droukdal, killed in northern Mali, the French special forces in early June. 

A region that remains very unstable

But for the Élysée, this progress remains very fragile. Paris is particularly worried about the mixed actions of Burkina Faso and Mali in favor of peace. The two countries have abandoned their commitments because of the electoral deadlines in 2020 In Burkina, where the presidential election is scheduled for the end of the year, entire areas threaten to be deprived of the presidential election, which therefore risks being contested.

At the UN in early June, the United States also worried about the "inability of the signatories (of the 2015 peace agreement in Mali, editor's note) to make significant progress". "The number of attacks in the Western Sahel region has increased by 250 percent since 2018. Partner countries remain determined against terrorism, but cannot afford to contain or reduce the threat on a sustained basis", said the US State Department in a recently published report.

With AFP

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