Departure of Barkhane from Mali: return on an acclaimed then disavowed French operation

François Hollande and his Malian counterpart Dioncounda Traoré on Independence Square in Bamako, February 2, 2013. Reuters / Joe Penney

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5 mins

Nine years have passed since the French army set foot on Malian soil to repel a vast jihadist offensive from the north to descend on Bamako.

Operation Barkhane fizzled out.

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We have won this war

”, proclaimed François Hollande, French president, in 2013 in Bamako.

A few months earlier, the Malian authorities had requested the help of France to counter the progression of the jihadist groups which occupy the north of Mali.

When the French army arrives in Mali, there is an outpouring of joy.

The cheer of a liberating army

During a whirlwind visit, the French president is welcomed as a liberator.

On the Place de l'Indépendance in Bamako, on February 2, 2013, the interim Malian President Dioncounda Traoré warmly thanked François Hollande.

Thank you for the rout of the wreckers who unfortunately spent a millennium of history with spades and hammers.

Thank you for the panels of the so-called Islamic police and justice, now unhooked from the pediment of our buildings.

Thank you on behalf of the women freed from the obscurantist prison of those who only came to destroy Islam.

Thank you on behalf of all those who will no longer experience the humiliation of forced and multiple marriages.

Thank you for the sobs that we won't hear tonight, from the umpteenth daughter raped in front of her father and mother, terrified and horrified.

Dioncounda Traoré thanks France

Acclaimed by the crowd, hailed as a "

hero

", the French President's speech on this same Independence Square on Saturday, February 2, 2013, will remain as the highlight of his visit to Mali: "

 I have probably just experienced the day most important in my political life.

Because at some point, a decision has to be made.

It is serious, it engages the lives of men and women, I took it in the name of France

 , ”he proclaims from the podium, under the cheers.

France and Mali are fighting together, " 

in brotherhood 

", he said.

Terrorism has been repelled, it has been driven out, but it has not yet been defeated.

France is at your side, not to serve I don't know what interest, we have none.

We are at your side for the whole of Mali and for West Africa.

We are fighting here so that Mali can live in peace and democracy.

Francois Hollande

It is therefore difficult to imagine that the largest French external operation would result in a departure from Mali in such a climate of mistrust.

Barkhane, who paid a heavy price with 53 dead, has however always been effective in terms of his mandate.

Initially responsible for containing the jihadist thrust, it made it possible to avoid the creation of a territorial caliphate.

A year and a half after its launch, in 2014, Serval became Barkhane, a regional system that brings together Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad.

The arrival of Wagner completes the break

But the terrorist threat has not disappeared in the area of ​​the three borders, on the borders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

During the Pau summit in January 2020, President Macron decided to send reinforcements and increase the force to more than 5,000 men.

The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was then designated enemy number 1. In the summer of 2021, Adnane Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, the leader of EIGS, was neutralized by an air strike.

Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of the rival group AQMI, was eliminated in the same way in June 2020.

Thanks to operational military partnerships, Barkhane has also enabled the Malian armed forces to move upmarket.

But tactical successes do not equal a victory.

The Malian state has never really gained a foothold in northern Mali, leaving the field open in particular to jihadist groups, like the Jnim of Iyad Ag Ghali.

► To read also:

The death of al-Sahraoui, head of the EIGS, does not put an end to the violence in the Sahel

Last June, the French president announced a reorganization of Operation Barkhane, the largest deployment of French soldiers abroad: some 25,000 international soldiers are currently deployed in the Sahel, including around 4,300 French.

They are 2,400 in Mali as part of Operation Barkhane.

It also announces the departure of French soldiers from three bases in Mali.

Things have accelerated in recent weeks with a verbal escalation between the French and Malian authorities and the expulsion of the French ambassador in Bamako.

All against a backdrop of growing anti-French sentiment in the Sahel and, more recently,

the arrival of Wagner's Russian mercenaries in favor of a new military regime in Bamako

.

And it was the arrival on Malian ground of this private security company directly linked to the Kremlin that precipitated the rupture.

It was in September that the first information on a negotiation between the Malian authorities and the Wagner group leaked.

Rumors immediately taken seriously by the French authorities.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian then announces the color: “ 

Wagner is a private militia which has distinguished itself by abuses.

It is absolutely irreconcilable with our presence.

 » 

► Listen again: 

Sahel: “

No Wagner in Mali

!

“, insists Florence Parly on RFI

The diplomatic machine is then set up to put pressure on Bamako.

On November 15, the European Union announces future sanctions against the Wagner company.

At the end of December, at the instigation of France, 14 European countries and Canada published a statement condemning “

 the deployment of mercenaries on Malian territory 

”. 

A few weeks earlier Russian elements were spotted near Bamako airport.

In January, the French general staff estimated that 500 mercenaries were deployed

in central Mali

.

They would be 1000 today.

The Malian authorities for their part,

still do not confirm the presence

of Russian mercenaries, but recall their national sovereignty and their right to

diversify their partnerships

► To read also: 

Expulsion of the French ambassador to Mali: has the peak of tensions been reached?

Today, Malians now consider this presence contrary to the interests of their country.

We are against French policy in Mali, in the Sahel.

Things have changed.

We believe that France maintains the status quo so that they remain masters of the place

Malians reject the French presence

While jihadist groups retain their power of nuisance in many areas of the Sahel, France today announces the end of Operation Barkhane in Mali.

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  • mali

  • Terrorism

  • sahel

  • Francois Hollande