French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Mali to discuss support for counterterror force
The new Sahel force will support national armies trying to catch jihadists across porous frontiers, and will work closely with French troops
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Mali on Sunday to consolidate Western backing for a regional anti-jihadist force, with France urging greater support for the Sahel region amid mounting insecurity.
The so-called G5 Sahel countries just south of the Sahara – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – have pledged to fight jihadists on their own soil with instability and Islamist attacks on the rise.
Macron has joined the heads of state of these nations in Bamako for a special summit where France’s full support for the force will be announced, with a focus expected on providing equipment.
With its base in Sevare, central Mali, the 5,000-strong G5 Sahel force aims to bolster the 12,000 UN peacekeepers and France’s own 4,000-strong military operation known as Barkhane operating in the region.
He is also expected to make the case for extra backing from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States – which already has a drone base in Niger – beyond a pledge of €50 million (US$57.2 million) by the European Union.
Serge Michailof, a researcher at the Paris-based IRIS institute, described the EU contribution as “a joke” in the context of the EU’s “very deep pockets”.