France and its European partners are to begin a military withdrawal from Mali after more than nine years fighting a jihadist insurgency, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, confirmed on Thursday, reports The Guardian.
Asked at the Élysée if the withdrawal marked a failure for France and its policy of fighting terrorism in west Africa, Macron said: “I completely reject that term.”
France first deployed troops against jihadists in Mali in 2013 under the socialist president François Hollande. The intervention successfully stemmed the insurgents’ advance and returned key cities such as Timbuktu to government control, but extremists swiftly regrouped.
In recent years, jihadists have taken over swaths of territory in the former French colony, exploiting political turmoil, poverty and the weakness of local authorities.
Macron said French forces would remain in the region but would be based in neighbouring Niger, from where they could help other countries suffering from jihadist activity.
“The heart of this military operation will no longer be in Mali but in Niger … and perhaps in a more balanced way across all the countries of the region which want this [help],” he said.
Niger has its own significant problem with Islamic extremism, as does Burkina Faso, where thousands of people have died and more than a million have been displaced in recent years.