Since Monday, August 15, there are no longer any French soldiers in Mali, thus ending Operation Barkhane in this country - even if the mission continues in other nations of the Sahel.
The opportunity for the former Secretary of State for Defense Jean-Marie Bockel to come back to this mission, at the microphone of RTL.
“A mixed record” according to the former statesman, even if the worst has been avoided: “there is no Islamist Caliphate.
The future is not insulted”.
No excess of positivity either: “Mali is not Afghanistan.
It is a country that was full of hope.
Today is a dark phase.
(…) We must not let go, we must stay in contact with this region, ”he continues.
The one who was also a minister under François Mitterrand returned to the death of his son, a soldier who died in Mali in 2019 during the collision between two helicopters: “We are not angry.
We fight against this feeling, which does not lead to anything but which can cross us.
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Mali: The last soldiers of the Barkhane force have left the country
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