France and the five countries of the strip of the Sahel closed ranks on Monday to push jihadist in the region and the outbreaks of feeling antifrancés after seven years of uncertain mission against terrorism. At a summit in Pau (department of the Atlantic Pyrenees), the president and Emmanuel Macron, and their counterparts in the so-called G5: Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania recognized the failures of recent of the current strategy. The leaders agreed to strengthen military coordination, to clarify the scope of the operation and to extend it to other european countries.
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Macron emphasized with a trip to the Sahel, the fight of France against jihadism, Two French soldiers are killed in an operation to free four hostages in Burkina Faso Europe militarized the Sahel
“The increase in attacks, the destruction that we suffered and the humanitarian crisis without precedent, we have been challenged. You have to go to a higher stage in the co-ordination of our operations. The results are below expectations,” said Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, president of Burkina Faso, at a press conference alongside Macron, and the leaders of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta; of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani; of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou; and of Chad, Idriss Déby Itno. “We need swift military results”, he added.
The goal in Pau was double. First, political: to renew the commitment of the five countries of the Sahel, with the presence of French and get these clarified that France is there at your request and not with any desire interventionist. “Do you want our presence? And, do you need us?”, reacted Macron in December, the demonstrations and declarations to the contrary to the French presence. The message, on the eve of the summit, had the tone of a veiled threat: or the partners cleared of these concerns, or Paris could withdraw its military.
The summit gave a clear response to this request. “The heads of State of the G5 Sahel have expressed the desire for the continuation of the military commitment of France in the Sahel and have advocated for a reinforcement of the international presence at their side,” reads a press release. Before the possible withdrawal of the united States, the text expresses “recognition” and “desire for continuity”
The second goal at the summit was to give a military response to the deterioration of the situation on the ground. In a report to the Security Council of the UN published in November, the secretary-general, António Guterres, explained that in 2019 more than 1,500 civilians had been killed in Mali and Burkina Faso and more than a million people had been displaced in the countries of the region, double the level in 2018. Military casualties have also been considerable. The Friday killed 89 soldiers from Niger in an attack on a military base near the border with Mali. The December 10, 71 people were killed in another attack on a base in the same country.
Not only Barkhane — the name of the operation French that began in 2013— will continue in the region, but strengthen its military coordination with the G5 under a new name: Coalition for the Sahel. The French president announced the sending of 220 military, in addition to the 4,500 already deployed.
France, which from the beginning of operations underlines that spans a space larger than Europe, and that has bases scattered all over the territory, supported the idea of concentrating on an area more reduced. Macron announced at the press conference the creation of a joint command of France and the G-5 to combat primarily the Islamic State of the Great Sahara in the border area between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
A key aspect of the coalition shall be the presence of a special forces group europe —not only French— baptized as Takuba. The summit was attended by the leaders of France and the G-5, the secretary-general Guterres; the president of the European Council, Charles Michel; and the high representative for foreign policy and common security of the EU, Josep Borrell.
Macron proposed the summit after the death of 13 French military at the end of November to the crash of two helicopters during a counter-terrorism operation in Mali. It was the greatest loss of life of the French armed forces in the theater of war from Beirut in 1983. The accident was a reminder of the costs to France of a distant war, with no defined objectives or end in sight. Some commentators compare him, saving the distances, with a Afghanistan French. Seven of the dead belonged to the 5th regiment of combat helicopters, based in Pau. Hence, this city of the southwest of France was chosen as the venue of the meeting.
