The commander of Operation Barkhane rejected Monday, September 27 in Nouakchott the reproaches of the Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga, rejecting in particular the expression of "
abandonment
" to describe the reorganization of the French military system in the Sahel.
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Choguel Kokalla Maïga affirmed Saturday at the platform of the United Nations that the announcement by President Emmanuel Macron in June of the reorganization of the French military presence, with the scheduled end of Barkhane, represented for Mali "
a kind of abandonment in full flight
”, denouncing a“
lack of consultation
”and a“
unilateral
”
decision
.
The new commander of Barkhane, General Laurent Michon, assured that on the contrary the decision to evacuate the French forces from their three northernmost positions in Mali had been carefully considered and discussed. "
The project to leave Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu dates from about two years ago, 18 months to two years,
" General Michon told the press, after meeting Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the Minister of Defense Hanena Ould Sidi and the Chief of Staff. "
It was drawn up with the heads of state of the G5 zone (G5 Sahel: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad), in particular in Bamako and Niamey with political authorities who know the project, who wish it, within the framework of the Peace Agreement
In Mali signed in 2015, he added.
The French Foreign Ministry also denied Monday the accusations of Choguel Kokalla Maïga who justified the opening of discussions with the Russian private military company
Wagner
by the need to "
fill the void
" that he said would leave French redeployment.
The spokesperson for the Quai d'Orsay recalled the abuses attributed to
Wagner's
“
mercenaries
” in other countries.
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The French plan provides for an evacuation of Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu to refocus the troops around Gao and Ménaka, closer to the “
three border zone
”, on the borders of Niger and Burkina Faso. "
If the Prime Minister thereby evokes the fact that we are withdrawing our symbolic presence in these three garrisons, it is absolutely not an abandonment, it is a relief on position
" in military terms, said General Michon. "
In these three garrisons, the units of the Minusma, and especially those of the FAMas, are established, firmly established, and it is in no way a question of abandonment
", he assured with reference to the peacekeepers of the United Nations. UN mission (Minusma) and the Malian armed forces. "
France, instead of abandoning Mali, had the political success of convincing Europeans to come and join us,
”he insisted, referring to the European group of special forces Takuba.