These soldiers crossed the border between Mali and Niger, said the French General Staff. After nine years of military presence, France has been pushed towards the exit by the Malian junta.
Le Monde with AFP
The last French soldiers of the operation “Barkhane”, present in Mali for nine years, left the country, said on Monday August 15 the French staff in a press release . These soldiers are now in Niger, it was specified from the same source.
“This day, the last soldiers of Operation Barkhane, present on Malian soil, crossed the border between Mali and Niger. They came from the Gao desert operational platform, now transferred to the Malian armed forces”, underlined the general staff.
“France remains engaged in the Sahel, in the Gulf of Guinea and the Lake Chad region with all the partners attached to stability and the fight against terrorism,” said the Elysée in a statement.
Sunday, several dozen people demonstrated in Gao, in northern Mali, to claim the departure of the French military force Barkhane, made local organizers and elected officials at the France-Presse agency. “We give a 72 -hour Ultimatum from this day on Sunday, August 14, 2022 for the final departure of Barkhane,” said demonstrators presenting themselves as “the living forces” of Gao, a city in the grip of jihadist violence.
The relationships between the junta in power in Bamako and Paris, an old colonial power, have brutally degraded in recent months, pushing the two countries to rupture after nine years of uninterrupted French presence to fight against the jihadists. After nine years of military presence in Mali, via the operation “Serval” then “Barkhane”, France was pushed towards the exit by the Malian military authorities, six months after the arrival of the paramilitaries of the Wagner group.