The French Army has left its Mali base ahead of a total withdrawal

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After nine years of fighting a jihadist insurgency, French forces were handing back a military post in northern Mali on Monday, preparatory of a full pullout from the Sahel nation, according to France’s army.

The UN envoy in the area cautioned that the French withdrawal could expose Menaka, where they were stationed, to Islamist attack.

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General Pascal Ianni, a spokesman for the French army, said the withdrawal from the base “was conducted in good order, safely and in transparent fashion.”

He noted that it comes ahead of the final pullout from Mali at the end of the summer, when France’s main military station in Gao would be handed over to Malian forces, thereby ending the Barkhane military operation.

El-Ghassim Wane, the UN Secretary-special General’s envoy in Mali, warned, however, that the withdrawal could put Menaka in jeopardy.

He said he had recently visited the town and that residents did not rule out an attack on Menaka town, where 5,000 people fleeing the violence had sought refuge.

“Should this scenario come to pass, the MINUSMA base is likely to be perceived as the last haven for civilians fleeing violence,” Wane added, referring to the UN peacekeeping force’s Mali base.

“MINUSMA’s ability to mount an effective response is limited,” he said, “With minimal Malian forces in the area and some 600 peacekeepers available to protect civilians, UN personnel and assets.”

France offered to sustain air assistance for the UN force from outside Mali at the UN Security Council.

In New York, French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said,

“This support is necessary for MINUSMA and to protect the peacekeepers.”

Bamako, on the other hand, turned down the offer, telling AFP that

“Mali strongly opposes any air support that Barkhane might make to the (UN) mission on Malian territory.”

Relationships deteriorating

In the remote tri-border zone where Mali meets Niger and Burkina Faso, former colonial master France established the Menaka outpost in 2018. Under the name Takuba, it housed French and European special forces charged with training local troops.

The Takuba operation would not be transferred to neighboring Niger, according to General Ianni.

In 2013, France began anti-jihadist operations in the Sahel, assisting Mali in putting down a rebellion in the north.

However, the jihadists regrouped to strike Mali’s volatile heartland, igniting a raging insurrection that even elected President Ibrahim Bubacar Keita was unable to quell.

Protests against Keita culminated in a coup headed by disgruntled colonels in August 2020, followed by another military takeover in May 2021.

Relations with France have deteriorated progressively since then, fueled by the junta’s refusal to give a timetable for restoring civilian authority and Bamako’s accusations that France was pushing the area to take a harsh position against it.

Last year, the junta tightened its links with Moscow by bringing in “military instructors,” whom France and its allies denounced as mercenaries hired from the pro-Kremlin Wagner group.

France will not abandon the Sahel.

The French mission in the Sahel numbered around 5,500 troops at its peak in 2020, when Paris steadily reduced the number of troops and closed the most forward locations in northern Mali, including Kidal, Tessalit, and Timbuktu.

As ties and security deteriorated, France’s ambassador to Bamako was dismissed in January, and President Emmanuel Macron announced his total withdrawal from Mali the following month.

The army, on the other hand, stated on Monday that French personnel will not leave the Sahel region.

“The commitment to the struggle against terrorism, alongside the states of the region, at their request, remains an absolute priority,” the spokesman said.

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