Guest from Europe 1, while French soldiers have been present in the Sahel for 8 years with Operation Barkhane, the former leader of the marine commando group who notably fought in the Sahel, Louis Saillans, confides in a book.

He wonders in particular why, despite military success, "we do not win".  

INTERVIEW

He fought terrorism with arms, now he wants to do it through knowledge.

While Operation Barkhane is celebrating its eight candles, Louis Saillans *, a former group leader in the marine commandos who served "in the Sahel and the Middle East" for 10 years, gives himself up in a book.

In 

Warlord - at the heart of special operations with a navy commando

, this elite 34-year-old soldier not only recounts his secret missions, but also asks a question: "why don't we win?"

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Winning the hearts of the people

And for him, the answer does not lie in military results, but in winning the hearts of the people of the Sahel.

After Operation Serval (2013-2014), which notably saw the liberation of Mali by the French armed forces, "there were François Hollande signs at the entrance to Timbuktu".

But today the situation has changed and anti-French sentiment is growing.

"I think there is wear and tear in people's minds," says Louis Saillans to explain the phenomenon.

“The people have seen military liberators coming, but these liberators have become people who stay. And they are only soldiers.”

Concretely, "nothing is developing more [in Mali] than military infrastructure," he says.

And if Louis Saillans ensures that the French soldiers have good relations locally with the populations, he points to a lack.

"What is being done to make us more than just an occupying force? Because that's how we are seen now."

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"Fighter within civil society"

If he will leave the army next July, Louis Saillans intends to fight terrorism in another theater of operations.

The military wants to become a "fighter within civil society".

"What interests me is to seek the truth. Today in the fight against terrorism, I think that things are not defined enough. Islam for example brings together a myriad of currents, so to stop at this word is to define the enemy badly. "

So that everyone has a good definition of the enemy that France is fighting especially in the Sahel, Louis Saillans plans to "give lectures, if possible to young people, in colleges and high schools".

* Louis Saillans is an assumed name taken by the military to "protect his family and relatives".