Emmanuel Macron called on Tuesday, February 16, to “behead” the jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, which still constitute a threat in the Sahel, and urged the countries of the region to take a political “leap” and a return of the State in abandoned territories. The French president participated, by videoconference from Paris, in a G5 Sahel summit bringing together since Monday in N’Djamena five Sahel countries: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania, and Chad. This event aims to take stock of the actions taken since the Pau summit a year ago.
Despite the claimed tactical success, the picture remains very bleak. More than eight years after the onset, in northern Mali, of a security crisis that continues to spread its metastases to the sub-region, hardly a day goes by in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger without an attack is to be deplored. The bar of two million displaced persons was also crossed in January. Since the Pau summit, where Paris had announced the sending of 600 French soldiers to reinforce the Sahel and designated the organization Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS) “enemy n ° 1” in the region, “we have succeeded in obtaining real results in the area of the three borders ”, between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, and the EIGS“ has lost its grip and suffers many losses, ”said Emmanuel Macron.
But organizations affiliated with Al-Qaeda grouped together within the GSIM (Support Group for Islam and Muslims) continue to claim multiple attacks, said Emmanuel Macron, promising “reinforced action” to “try to go decapitate these organizations ”,“ whose highest hierarchy continues to feed a jihadist agenda ”. For its part, Mali had said it was ready, in 2020, to open channels of discussion with these groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, including Katiba Macina. Emissaries were sent to Iyad Ag Ghaly and Amadou Koufa, two figures of the GSIM, a jihadist nebula linked to Al-Qaeda which is responsible for many attacks.
Macron wants to “give a perspective to the populations of the Sahel”
Very little information filtered out on these contacts until the overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in August 2020. The soldiers, who have since implemented a transition supposed to return power to civilians within 18 months, have displayed their desire to give the country a new start. In October 2020, during a visit to Bamako by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who had ruled out any discussion with the jihadists, the Malian transitional Prime Minister, Moctar Ouane, stressed that the “inclusive national dialogue” , a vast national consultation held at the end of 2019, had “very clearly indicated the need for an offer of dialogue with the jihadist armed groups”.
If France does not hide wanting to reduce its military presence in the Sahel, Emmanuel Macron did not finally mention, Tuesday, a reduction in the strength of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane, which currently has some 5,100 men in the Sahel. “The intention is there, the modalities will be decided over the next few weeks and months,” according to the Élysée. The French president also welcomed on Tuesday the decision announced the day before by Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno to send 1,200 soldiers to this “three border” zone. It is “a strong and courageous decision which will consolidate the strength of the G5 Sahel”, he commented.
In addition, the Head of State thanked the European countries participating in the new grouping of special forces Takuba, “which thus agree to mutualize the risk of the ultimate sacrifice that our soldiers take”. Beyond the military component, the French president insisted on the need to “give a perspective to the populations of the Sahel”, calling for a “second leap: that of the return of security and services to the populations” and demanding ” an impetus at the highest level of the State ”to reinvest the neglected territories of the region. “It is through the collective and concrete action on the ground that we will succeed. France will continue to play its part because I know that everyone is mobilized here, ”concluded Emmanuel Macron.
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