Keyword: Mali

Meanwhile West African leaders ended a day-long summit in Bamako without a consensus on how to alleviate Mali's political troubles. 

French defence minister Florence Parly has announced an operation led by French forces this week killed Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of al-Qaeda in North Africa, and that last month a senior Islamic State group commander in Mali had also been captured.

French officials have announced that Foreign Legion member Kévin Clement, 21, was killed in a firefight combat against armed groups in Mali’s Menaka region, bringing the total of fatalities among French forces engaged against jihadist forces in the north-west African country since 2013 to 43.

Brigadier Dymyto Martynyouk was struck by an improvised explosive device during an 'operation against terrorist groups' on April 23, officials said.

Sébastien Chadaud-Pétronin said he was relieved to know his mother Sophie Pétronin, abducted in 2016, was alive, but said he felt there was no way to get her 'out of this hell'.

French President Emmanuel Macron has held a summit in Pau, south-west France, with leaders of five West African states engaged alongside France in fighting jihadist forces in the Sahel when he announced a further 220 French troops would be sent to the region to join their 4,500 colleagues already on the ground and the creation of a joint command structure with regional states.

Facing hostility in five former colonies over a stalled fight against extremists, President Macron has taken a harsh public stance but few expect him to follow through.

France's military command has announced the first drone strike carried out by its forces, which ocurred during counter-jihadist operations in Mali at the weekend, just two days after testing had finished on the remotely-piloted Reapers for armed operations.

French President Emmanuel Macron, visiting Ivory Coast, said French troops killed 33 jihadists early Saturday in an operation in Mali's Mopti region, when one person was taken prisoner and two Malian gendarmes held hostage were freed.

Mohamed, originally from the north of Burkina Faso, wanted to join the army but changed his mind after his family disagreed. © OM

In a country beset with spiralling jihadist violence, young people from Burkina Faso’s Fula community are the ideal recruits for armed groups keen to capitalise on the discontent stemming from extreme poverty and the frequent abuses committed by government troops in this part of Africa. And as François Hume and Olivia Macadré report, if they reject the jihadists’ call to arms, they are widely seen as guilty by association.

Members of the public joined with military personnel to pay homage in Paris on Monday to 13 French soldiers killed in Mali when their helicopters collided while on a night-time mission to track down Islamist fighters early last week. 

A French soldier at Gao in Mali deep in reflection in front of the coffins of the 13 French troops killed in the country on November 25th 2019. © Reuters

On Monday November 25th 13 members of the French military were killed when two helicopters crashed in Mali during France's ongoing military operations there. The grim news sparked debates back in France about the country's military involvement in the Sahel region of Africa. But as Mediapart's René Backmann writes, the legacy of France's colonial past and the remnants of its post-colonial approach to the continent known as 'Françafrique' suggest that President Emmanuel Macron's government will be unable to see that military combat against jihadism is not the only response that is needed to tackle the region's instability.

Armed forces minister Florence Parly has called on fellow EU governments to despatch special forces to the Sahel, to help curb militant attacks that have killed more than 100 Malian troops in recent weeks.

French president Emmanuel Macron expressed his 'deep sadness' over incident, which is believed to be biggest single loss of life for French military since the 1980s.

French president Emmanuel Macron expressed his 'deep sadness' over incident, which is believed to be biggest single loss of life for French military since the 1980s.