Forget Mali.
But continue elsewhere and differently.
Thursday morning, the day after a dinner with his West African counterparts and representatives of European countries involved in the Sahel, the Head of State Emmanuel Macron confirmed a "
coordinated withdrawal from Malian territory
" of military means deployed to fight against armed jihadist groups.
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The situation in Mali, a subject of tension between Paris and Algiers
Nine years after the intervention which had made it possible to avoid a collapse of Mali, Operation Barkhane is not yet officially over.
The word was not spoken.
But the page is turned.
Mali will no longer be at the heart of the French strategy extended to coastal states.
This will be even less military: Emmanuel Macron is now counting on a "
civil burst
" from the local populations to counter jihadism.
The president took note of the limits of the military tool and the political fractures in the Sahel.
We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de facto authorities with whom we share neither the strategy nor the hidden objectives.
Emmanuel Macron
For six months, the bridges have been broken with the junta in power in Bamako.
"
We can't stay...
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