The announcement was expected but it is none the less shattering.

Operation Barkhane is drawing to a close.

Despite the successes recorded during these eight years of massive engagement, France has not succeeded in stemming the spiral of jihadist violence in the Sahel, a desert region of 4 million square kilometers, plagued by trafficking and deemed to be uncontrollable.

"We cannot secure areas that fall back into anomie because the States decide not to take their responsibilities, it is impossible, or else it is endless work", noted Emmanuel Macron, formalizing a " profound transformation "of an increasingly unpopular French presence in French public opinion, less than a year from the presidential election.

If the details are not yet known, a source close to the matter, quoted by AFP, evokes a gradual decrease in French military personnel, with a milestone of around 3,500 men within a year, then 2,500 people from 'by 2023, compared to 5,100 deployed today.

06:23

The executive is officially awaiting discussions at the end of June with its European partners, Algeria and the UN to outline the new device.

This change in gear is also accompanied by a change in doctrine.

No more large-scale operations likely to expose the lives of soldiers to ambushes or improvised explosive devices.

Make way for targeted special forces operations, intelligence and air strikes. 

"It is a question of interrupting the heavy operations which consisted in hunting very mobile jihadists with heavy vehicles in order to favor lighter modes of action", specifies Mathieu Mabin on the antenna of France 24. An adaptation to reality of the ground "looked at with a certain envy" by the American General staff reveals our correspondent in Washington, because "it is exactly what they lacked in Afghanistan, and a time in Iraq".  

Sahel: what future for Franco-American cooperation?

04:14

Mobilize Europeans

To carry out the transformation of Operation Barkhane, France is counting on its European partners to distribute the war effort and support the training of local armies.

Since coming to power, Emmanuel Macron has struggled to mobilize his European neighbors, while France deplores the death of 51 soldiers since the start of its engagement and spends one billion euros each year to finance its military presence.

"We can credit Emmanuel Macron for having imposed the question of the Sahel at the European level", analyzes Caroline Roussy, researcher at Iris, joined by France 24.

France is particularly counting on the rise of the group of European special forces Takuba. 

Established in Mali, in Gao and Ménaka, Takuba today brings together 600 men, half of them French, as well as a few dozen Estonians and Czechs, and nearly 140 Swedes.

Italy has pledged up to 200 soldiers, Denmark 100.

We are therefore still far from the objective of 2,000 men announced by Emmanuel Macron at the end of the N'Djamena summit, in Chad, in February.

"European aid remains limited and rather hypothetical", indicates our international columnist Marc Perelman. 

"Globally, there is a lack of enthusiasm in European countries. Many are going backwards because they have a little the impression of being used as a guarantee for a French neocolonialism", decrypts Caroline Roussy, who points out the total lack of reaction European capitals after Emmanuel Macron's announcements.

"There is a reluctance to commit resources and the fear of losing human lives," said Josep Borell, high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde. by calling on European states to become more involved.

In addition to this reluctance, there are institutional blockages.

Unlike France, where the president can decide alone to commit troops abroad, many European countries must obtain the approval of their parliament.

Finally, the recent political upheavals in Mali, hit by a second coup d'état in less than a year could also cool down European candidates.

For its part, France wants to believe in a rise in Takuba's power.

"Europeans are more and more aware of the security issues at stake in the Sahel, especially on the migratory side", assures a military leader quoted by AFP.

"The time has come"

Another major axis of this recalibration of Barkhane: the involvement of local armies.

"The time has come because the Sahelian armed forces are now more able to face their enemies", assured Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces, in an interview with FranceInfo.

However, it is difficult to assess the progress of local armies, deplores Caroline Roussy.

"There are two formations, via the European mission EUTM in Mali and the EUCAP Sahel in Niger, but there was no count, and nobody knows how many soldiers were really trained".

Despite significant financial efforts, the armed forces of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which are among the poorest countries in the world, remain markedly under-trained and under-equipped.

>> To (re) see, our Focus: The French army, the ultimate bulwark against the jihadist threat in the Sahel?

Last week, Burkina Faso experienced the worst massacre of civilians since 2015. On the night of June 4 or 5, 160 people were massacred in Solhan, in the three border region, by suspected jihadists.

The armed forces, of which a detachment was nevertheless present at about fifteen kilometers, arrived several hours after the departure of the attackers.

"The lesson cruelly administered to us by this new episode is that the African armies are not in a position to take over, and that, on the contrary, the jihadist forces are very operational", explained on our antenna the journalist Vincent Hugeux.

Should we then fear a call for air for jihadist groups with the reduction of French military personnel? "The French leaders will act in good understanding. Beyond the announcement effects, there are already consultations. France is not going to undo overnight what it has built with the armies of the region", tempers Jérôme Pigné, researcher at the Thomas Moore Institute, who warns against the impasse of an all-military solution. "There must also be efforts led on the political front, governance, sub-regional cooperation and development."

France's development aid to the G5 Sahel countries more than doubled between 2012 and 2018, from 580 million euros to more than 1.3 billion euros in six years.

But as a report by the Court of Auditors published at the end of April reminds us, this aid suffers from a lack of coordination and gaps in the monitoring of funds.

Above all, it has not significantly improved the daily lives of the populations.

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