France and its allies announce troop withdrawal from Mali

• Sahel Mali, the 'Afghanistan' of France?

France and its European partners involved in Mali announced Thursday a coordinated military withdrawal from that African country, where the French

operation and the European

special forces are present .

A joint statement stressed that the political, operational and legal conditions are no longer met to continue their current military commitment in the fight against jihadist terrorism there given the lack of cooperation from the military junta that governs Bamako.

The group pointed out that, "in close cooperation with neighboring countries, they wish to remain present in the region", where there are a total of about 25,000 soldiers and France has, specifically, about 4,300, of which

Signatories include Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the European Council, the European Commission, the Sahel Coalition and the African Union Commission.

"We cannot continue to be militarily engaged alongside

The fight against terrorism cannot justify everything," said French President Emmanuel Macron, who has "completely" denied that the mission against the jihadist groups in Mali has been a failure and estimated that if France had not intervened, this African country would have collapsed.

"What would have happened in 2013 if France [then chaired by the socialist François Hollande] had not decided to intervene?

," Macron said at a press conference.

The soldiers of the Barkhane operation also recorded "many successes", including the elimination of the emir of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in June 2020, added Macron.

The withdrawal, decided at a meeting this Wednesday night at the Elysee with some twenty European and African leaders, will result in the

something that will take "between four and six months", and it will be done in an orderly manner in coordination with Malian and UN forces.

It is motivated, according to the note, "by the multiple obstructions of the Malian transition authorities."

That military junta is in power after the

"France intervened in Mali first to fight terrorism and at the request of a sovereign state. That second condition has changed. Victory is not possible if it is not led by the state itself," Macron explained.

Prominence to the Nigerian Army

To contain the potential geographic spread of terrorist groups' actions to the south and west, international partners are considering expanding their support to neighboring countries in the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa, according to their requests.

The forces will now reorganize alongside the Nigerian Army in the Malian border region.

The turning point is that the core of the action will no longer be in Mali, but in Niger, in the so-called "

The statement also specified the intention to continue supporting the Malian population and to confront "the root causes of insecurity" in the country, mobilizing aid to respond to immediate and longer-term needs.

Barkhane was created in August 2014 as a successor to Operation Serval, which Paris launched in early 2013 to prevent jihadist organizations that had become strong in northern and central Mali from gaining control of the entire country.

Last June, Macron already announced a "profound transformation" of that mission to turn it into a cooperation operation, which was going to mean a reduction in troops.

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• Emmanuel Macron

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