The threat is presented as real but the summit will be virtual.
Emmanuel Macron will not travel Monday and Tuesday to N'Djamena, Chad, for a summit with his Sahel counterparts devoted to the future of Operation Barkhane.
A little over a year after having decreed a start and having sent 600 additional soldiers on the ground, bringing the strength of the armies to 5,100 soldiers, the time had come to take stock.
It was necessary to "
adjust
", in the words of the president, the format of the operation which has been fighting since 2013 against jihadist terrorist groups in the Sahel.
But the head of state has decided to apply to himself the travel restrictions linked to the coronavirus epidemic, they say at the Elysee.
And
"the sanitary conditions are not very good on the spot",
we add to the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Then the summit will take place in distance.
To read also:
Francoise Dumas: "No, our country is not stuck in the Sahel!"
By breaking up the event into virtual bricks, the Head of State runs the risk of limiting its symbolic significance.
The
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