Announcing his withdrawal, Macron refuses to describe the French military operations in Mali as a ‘failure’

French President Emmanuel Macron held a press conference Thursday morning at the Elysee Palace, after African and Western leaders met in Paris on Wednesday evening to begin making plans for how to continue fighting Islamist militants in the Sahel once France and its European allies begin to withdraw. Troops from Mali. Follow France 24 for live updates.

10:00 a.m. Paris time: President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the withdrawal of Malian forces from Mali would take four to six months, and the military withdrawal from Mali would take four to six months, during which time there would be fewer operations against Islamist militants in Coast region.

“The heart of this military operation will no longer be in Mali, but in Niger,” Macron told a news conference in Paris. Macron added that Saber’s French special forces would remain in Burkina Faso, where the junta also holds power.

9:53 am Paris time: Senegalese President Macky Sall said, Thursday, during the same press conference, that African countries cannot fight Sahel terrorism alone, Senegalese President Macky Sall said, on Thursday, that the war against Islamic rebellions in the Sahel cannot be fought It shall be the sole responsibility of African states. “We agreed with Europe that the fight against terrorism in the Sahel cannot be the prerogative of African countries alone, there is consensus on that,” Sall said in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.

9:50 a.m. Paris time: Macron “totally rejects” describing French military operations in Mali as a “failure,” French President Emmanuel Macron said he “totally rejects” describing France’s military operations in Mali as a “failure,” during a press conference at the Palais Elysee on Thursday. “I completely reject this term,” Macron told a news conference in Paris. At the time, Macron said, Mali had asked France to deploy troops to counter an Islamist insurgency that was heading towards the capital, thus preventing the collapse of the country.

Instead, he said, the positions of the ruling military junta in Mali forced France to withdraw. “We cannot remain militarily involved with the de facto authorities whose strategy and hidden goals we do not share,” Macron told reporters, adding that he “totally” rejected the idea that France had failed in its former colony after a nearly decade-long operation.

9:35 a.m. Paris time: The Sahel is now a “priority” area for al-Qaeda and the expansion of ISIS, Macron says, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have made the Sahel region of West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea “a priority,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. for their strategy of expansion.” He said, “They are investing there and exploiting local issues in order to better pursue their global and regional agenda,” justifying the continuation of the French and European Union military presence in the region despite the withdrawal from Mali.

9:30 a.m. Paris time: Macron says Niger has agreed to host European forces As France and its partners announced the start of a military withdrawal from Mali after a decade of operations against jihadists there, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Niger had agreed. It hosts European forces fighting Islamist militants.

He also said that the remaining forces would provide more assistance to the Gulf of Guinea states. “These countries are increasingly exposed to the efforts of terrorist groups to implant themselves in their territories,” Macron said at a press conference in Paris.

9:00 Paris time: France and its partners announced the start of the military withdrawal from Mali, and France and its allies in the anti-jihadist operations Barkhane and Tokoba in Mali on Thursday announced a “coordinated withdrawal” of their forces due to “multiple obstacles” on its part. The ruling military council. In a joint statement, Paris, other countries in the European Union and Canada pledged to continue “joint action against terrorism in the Sahel region, including Niger and the Gulf of Guinea” by June 2022.

“Due to the multiple impediments by the Malian transitional authorities, Canada and European countries operating alongside Operation Barkhane and within Task Force Takoba are of the view that the political, operational and legal conditions are no longer in place to continue their current military engagement effectively in the fight against terrorism in Mali,” the statement added. Therefore, the Allies decided to “initiate the coordinated withdrawal of their military resources devoted to these operations from the territory of Mali”.

Four European diplomatic sources told Reuters that the announcement of the withdrawal of France’s Operation Barkhane and EUROPEAN TAKOBA Special Forces from Mali will be made before the EU meeting at 7:10 am Paris time: the announcement of withdrawal is expected before the EU-Africa summit in Brussels. – Africa Summit in Brussels on Thursday.

The decision comes on the heels of deteriorating French relations with Mali after the junta reneged on an agreement to organize elections in February, proposing to retain power until 2025. Mali has also accepted the deployment of Russian private military contractors, to the chagrin of some European countries who say the Russian presence is incompatible with their mission.

6:55 Paris time: Macron will hold a press conference on ‘France’s engagement in the Sahel’, and French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to travel to Brussels Thursday for the two-day EU-Africa summit. But the French presidency announced that he will first hold a press conference at 9 am local time on “France’s participation in the Sahel region” at the Elysee Palace, where he is likely to make an official announcement.

President Emmanuel Macron welcomed African leaders to dinner in Paris on Wednesday, ahead of the expected announcement that France will withdraw its forces from Mali after nearly 10 years in the fight against a jihadist insurgency in the region. Multiple sources told AFP that Macron will announce that French forces will leave Mali and redeploy elsewhere in the Sahel.

The working dinner hosted by Macron, on Wednesday, brought together the leaders of France’s main allies in the Sahel region – Chad, Mauritania and Niger. Officials from Mali and Burkina Faso, which recently suffered a military coup, were not invited.

Other African leaders also attended, along with European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

(France 24 with AFP and Reuters)