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Bloomberg
France and its allies agreed to withdraw their forces from Mali after relations with the West African nation’s government deteriorated following a military coup.
French, European and Canadian troops are planning a “coordinated withdrawal†from the country given “multiple obstructions by Mali’s transitional authorities,†the office of French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement.
“We can’t remain militarily engaged alongside de facto authorities whose strategy and hidden targets we do not share,†Macron told reporters at a briefing in Paris.
Less than two months before asking voters to hand him a second term, and facing pressure from rivals to bring soldiers home, Macron is eager to end France’s largest and most expensive military operation.
French troops entered Mali in 2013 under then-President Francois Hollande to stop al-Qaeda-linked militants from advancing toward the capital, Bamako. They ended up staying as violence spilled across borders.
Last year, Macron announced the French mission in the Sahel would be gradually replaced by a new multinational European operation called Takuba, which fully deployed in April 2021. That formed part of Macron’s push for a more ambitious European foreign, security and defense policy that could operate independently of
the US, including an army that could be deployed for crisis missions.
As the centre of an insurgency that spans several countries, Mali is geographically best situated for Takuba’s operations. But Paris argues the situation has become untenable since the junta, which took power after a coup in May, allowed the deployment of a private Russian force, sought to postpone a return to democracy and reviewed bilateral military agreements.
EU-Africa Summit
While Takuba is winding down, France’s Operation Barkhane force will remain in Mali for about six months to fight terrorism and to secure the closing of bases there, a French official familiar with the defense ministry said. Barkhane will also continue supporting a United Nations peacekeeping mission known as Minusma.