LAST FRENCH TROOPS LEAVE MALI, AFTER 9 YEARS, BILLIONS SPENT AND MANY LIVES LOST

Tue 16 August 2022:

When French forces first arrived in Mali in 2013, they were welcomed as heroes for saving the country’s citizens from an existential jihadist threat.

However, it came to a quiet end on Monday afternoon with the last few French units crossing the border into neighboring Niger without a friendly farewell from their Malian allies, with whom France has had a major falling out, and with their mission far from accomplished.

In a statement, the French army said on Monday it had met the “major military logistics challenge” of the pullout “in an orderly and safe fashion”.

FRANCE BEGINS MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM MALI; HANDOVER MENAKA BASE TO MALIAN FORCES

“Today at 1pm Paris time [11:00 GMT] the final contingent of the Barkhane force still on Malian territory crossed the border between Mali and Niger,” the French military statement said, using the official name of the main French operation in the region, which was launched with the cooperation of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in 2014 as armed groups became increasingly active in Mali’s arid centre.

In 2013, at Bamako’s request, France launched Operation Serval to respond to an onslaught in the country’s north by the ethnic-Tuareg separatist movement, which had teamed up with an al-Qaeda affiliate.

French troops have been fighting Islamists in Mali for nearly a decade. Billions of euros have been spent. Thousands of civilians have died, as well as thousands of Malian soldiers and 59 French ones. But far from being stopped, the insurgency has billowed out from its northern beginnings across the country’s center and to its neighbors.

MALI WITHDRAWS FROM WEST AFRICA’S MULTINATIONAL FORCES

In the early days of the French intervention, it was largely seen as a great success. “Mali isn’t a caliphate, and the probability that it could have become one in 2013 was quite strong,” said Gen. Didier Castres, a former deputy chief of staff for operations. He argued that France and European allies had also helped Mali strengthen its military capacities.

In a statement on Monday, the French Presidency said: “France remains engaged in the (wider) Sahel (region), in the Gulf of Guinea and the Lake Chad region with all partners committed to stability and to the fight against terrorism.”

According to French officials, Niamey will now serve as the base for French forces in the Sahel, with roughly 1,000 soldiers, fighter jets, drones, and helicopters stationed there. In the border regions with Burkina Faso and Mali, an additional 300 to 400 troops will be sent for special operations.

FRANCE ACCUSES RUSSIAN MERCENARIES OF STAGING A MASSACRE IN MALI

The officials added that French troops will discontinue carrying out missions or pursuing armed groups into Mali once the evacuation was complete. Around 700 to 1,000 French troops are now positioned in Chad, with an undisclosed number of special forces working elsewhere in the area.

Following the coups in 2020 and 2021, France’s ties with the government underwent a drastic downturn. French pressure on the military-led administration to choose a short timescale for a return to civilian rule and Bamako’s move towards Moscow both contributed to the discord.

MALI TROOPS, SUSPECTED RUSSIAN MERCENARIES KILL HUNDREDS OF CIVILIANS: HRW

Mali’s military leaders have denied that Russian mercenaries have been deployed to the country, saying instead it had invited “Russian trainers” to strengthen national defence.

In an ambush in central Mali on Monday, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed to have killed four mercenaries from the Russian private security firm Wagner. The group was attacked on Saturday while riding motorcycles in the Bandiagara region close to the village of Djallo, according to JNIM.

INSURGENTS KILLED DOZENS OF SOLDIERS IN MALI AND BURKINA FASO

On Aug. 7, Islamist insurgents killed 42 Malian soldiers in an attack 70 miles south of the French base in the ancient city of Gao. Just across the border with Burkina Faso, 15 Burkinabe soldiers were killed days later. A former government minister, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said that there were jihadist sleeper cells in the capital, Bamako, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Such an opportunity may be presented by the departure of the French, he said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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