PresidentPresident Emmanuel Macron warned in comments published Sunday that France will pull its troops out of Mali if it lurches towards radical Islamism following the second coup in nine months, reports The Economic Times. France has around 5,100 troops in the region under its so-called Barkhane operation which spans five countries in the Sahel -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The mission, headquartered in Chad, was launched after France intervened to fend off a jihadist advance in Mali in 2013 .
On Tuesday France and the European Union denounced an "unacceptable coup d'état" after Mali's interim president Bah Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane were detained and stripped of their powers in what is being seen as the country's second coup in less than a year. Macron said he had told Ndaw that France will withdraw its troops if Mali turns towards radical Islamism. "Radical Islamism in Mali with our soldiers there? Never," he told the weekly newspaper The Journal du Dimanche.
