FRENCH-LED ALLIED TROOPS ANNOUNCE MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM MALI

Thu 17 February 2022:

After nearly ten years of fighting armed insurgency in Mali, France and its European allies have declared that they will begin evacuating soldiers.

The ruling military government’s “multiple obstructions” meant that the conditions to operate in Mali were no longer in place, according to a declaration signed by France and its African and European partners and published on Thursday.

The decision applies to both France’s Barkhane force in the Sahel and the Takuba European force that Paris and its allies had been attempting to form.

“The political, operational and legal conditions are no longer met to effectively continue their current military engagement in the fight against terrorism in Mali,” the statement said.

The allies, therefore “decided to commence the coordinated withdrawal of their respective military resources dedicated to these operations from Malian territory”.

On his part, French President Emmanuel Macron “completely” rejected the idea that France had failed its former colony, adding: “We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de-facto authorities whose strategy and hidden aims we do not share.”

Even after the pullout from Mali, however, the allies promised to remain engaged in fighting “terrorism” in other countries including Niger.

“They agreed nonetheless to continue their joint action against terrorism in the Sahel region, including in Niger and in the Gulf of Guinea,” the statement said.

“They have begun political and military consultations with them with the aim to set out the terms for this shared action by June 2022.”

The West accuses Mali of using the services of the hugely controversial Russian mercenary group Wagner to shore up its position, a move that gives Moscow a new foothold in the region.

The announcement of the withdrawal came at a critical time for Macron, especially with the French elections looming, Macron’s priority is to ensure that any withdrawal does not invite comparisons with the chaotic US departure from Afghanistan last year.

A total of 25,000 foreign troops are currently deployed in the Sahel region.

They include about 4,300 French soldiers, which under a reduction announced last year are due to fall to about 2,500 in 2023 from a peak of 5,400.

Other forces deployed in Mali are the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA established in 2013 and the EUTM Mali, an EU military training mission that aims to improve the Malian military’s capacity in fighting armed rebels.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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