FRENCH FORCES HAND OVER TIMBUKTU MILITARY CAMP TO MALIAN FORCES

Wed 15 December 2021:

The departure of French forces from Timbuktu is the latest sign that the former colonial power is reducing its presence in northern Mali nearly nine years after a military intervention that helped push back fighters who had overrun parts of the country.

On February 2, 2013, former French President Francois Hollande declared the start of France’s military offensive in Mali in Timbuktu. The French flag was lowered on Tuesday, and the Malian flag was raised in its place at a military base where a force of about 150 soldiers had remained after France began withdrawing troops.

As a French military plane flew low overhead, General Etienne du Peyroux, the commander of France’s Operation Barkhane military campaign in Mali, shook hands with the new camp commander and handed him a large wooden key.

France will “be present in a different way,” according to du Peyroux. “Ultimately, the aim of Operation Barkhane is to allow Mali to take control of its own destiny… but always in partnership.”

The French military emphasized in a statement that the Malian military maintains “a strong garrison in Timbuktu,” in addition to nearly 2,200 UN peacekeepers who are permanently deployed there.

Earlier this year, France stated that it would withdraw over 2,000 troops from the Sahel region by early 2022, focused its military efforts on neutralizing insurgent operations and bolstering and training local militaries.

The possibility of mercenaries hired by the controversial Wagner Group being deployed in Mali has strained already strained ties between the French government and the coup plotters in recent months. The intensifying violence has also coincided with a surge in anti-French sentiment among Malians, who accuse Paris of failing to contain the violence and pursuing a hidden agenda.

Mali has been engulfed in a conflict that began as a separatist movement in the country’s north in 2012, but has since degraded into a slew of armed factions vying for power in the country’s central and northern regions.

Fighting has spread to neighboring countries like as Burkina Faso and Niger, and the region’s deteriorating security situation has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

Photo: in Tessalit camp, Barkhane hands over to the Malian Armed Forces

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