According to information collected by France 24, President Emmanuel Macron is due to present, on Wednesday or Thursday, on the sidelines of a European Union - African Union summit, a reorganization of Operation Barkhane.
According to numerous sources, half of the 4,800 French soldiers currently deployed as part of this operation are stationed in Mali and should soon leave the country.
Against the backdrop of growing anti-French sentiment in the Sahel, and after the expulsion of the French ambassador to Bamako on January 31, Paris announced that it would "work by mid-February" to adapt its military system in the region. and will probably record its forced military withdrawal from Mali.
On Monday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, affirmed "If the conditions are no longer met, which is clearly the case, for us to be able to act in Mali, we will continue to fight the terrorism side by side with the countries of the Sahel who are quite demanding".
After nine years of French military engagement, and at the cost of 53 French soldiers who died in the Sahel, France 24 takes stock of the French and European military posture in the region.
Operation Barkhane in Mali
On January 11, 2013, at the request of the Malian government, France launched a military operation to block the advance of a column of jihadists and Tuareg rebels towards Bamako.
The following year, she set up Operation Barkhane, which was to become the longest French external military operation since the end of the Algerian war.
It will have up to 5,500 soldiers deployed in Mali, Niger and Chad in partnership with the five countries of the Sahelo-Saharan zone (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad), members of the G5 Sahel.
According to data published by the Ministry of Defense in December 2021, Operation Barkhane has three military bases in northern Mali.
The main one is located in Gao and has combat helicopters, troops (called GTD, “desert tactical groups”), heavy armored vehicles and logistical means of transport.
This is where most of the French military force in Mali is based, supplemented by elements of Task Force Takuba, which has 800 soldiers sent by Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.
Half of this task force is made up of French soldiers.
Three British CH-47 Chinook heavy transport helicopters have also been deployed in Gao since mid-July 2018.
The French and European military deployment in Mali © FMM graphic studio
Two other “forward operating bases” are located in the desert expanses of northern Mali.
In Menaka, the Franco-Czech Takuba command and task force have been operating since March 2021, as well as the helicopter-borne rapid reaction force armed by the Swedes.
In Gossi, the French army has a tactical unit.
Finally, in Ansongo, there is a light reconnaissance and intervention unit of Task Force Takuba.
Between October and December 2021, French forces withdrew from Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu.
At the beginning of January 2022, Russian army instructors and mercenaries from the Wagner group settled in the Timbuktu military base.
A redeployment of Barkhane towards Niger and Chad?
Outside Mali, French forces have two permanent military bases.
The first is located in Niamey, the capital of Niger, where the main air base of Operation Barkhane is located with six Reaper drones and 7 Mirage-type fighter planes.
A combat unit completes the system on this base located near the so-called three-border zone (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger).
The bases of Operation Barkhane in Niger and Chad © FMM graphic studio
The French Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, traveled to Niamey in early February to meet with the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum.
A regional ally deemed reliable by France, Niger could play a central role in the new military system which should soon be unveiled.
Further east, in Chad, is the command post of Operation Barkhane.
An air base is installed in N'Djamena, the Chadian capital.
With 5 to 8 transport planes, it carries out the essential logistics missions in a theater of operation of 5 million square kilometers (ten times the size of France).
In West Africa, a solidly established French military presence
In recent weeks, Paris has reaffirmed its desire to continue to fight in the Sahel and in West Africa against the spread of jihadism towards the Gulf of Guinea, already observed in the north of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Benin. .
Last week's attacks in northern Benin, which killed at least 9 people, including a Frenchman, no doubt reinforced this decision, despite tensions with the Malian junta.
The staff also announced on Saturday that it had eliminated in Burkina Faso forty jihadists involved in the attacks in Benin.
To fight against movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, Paris can rely on a solid and long-standing military presence on the West African coast.
French military bases in West Africa, excluding the Barkhane system © FMM graphic studio
In Abidjan, the French base in Côte d'Ivoire has 900 soldiers and constitutes a strategic, "major operational and logistical platform" and forms "a reservoir of forces that can be rapidly deployed in the event of a crisis in the sub-region" according to the Ministry of Defense.
In Gabon, a detachment of 350 soldiers housed at Camp De Gaulle, near Libreville airport, constitutes a reservoir of pre-positioned forces.
In Senegal, the French army has 350 men in Ouakam and the military port of Dakar and has an air stopover.
Finally, in the Sahel, there is also the command post of “Operation Saber” installed near Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso.
Since 2009, 350 to 400 special forces soldiers have been stationed there.
Most of the jihadist leaders eliminated in recent years have been in the context of operations carried out by this unit.
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