A French army convoy leaves camp at sunrise on November 2, 2024 in northern Mali. AFP PHOTO/PHILIPPE DESMAZES
On Tuesday, Paris confirmed the death of a French soldier in a suicide bombing in northern Mali the previous day, which brings the death toll of French troops in the country to nine since early 2013.
Via: BBC News
The news comes shortly after Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced the end of Operation Serval, which was launched in January 2013 to roust armed Islamists who took over the region after co-opting a Tuareg separatist uprising. After spending millions of dollars to restore stability to northern Mali – and fast tracking an election in Bamako – French forces look to be finally making the speedy exit originally anticipated. Indeed, much of Operation Serval consisted of unexpected delays to the French withdrawal, most recently renewed clashes between French troops and rebels last week in the flashpoint town of Kidal that killed at least 37 people.
Le Drian’s move to finally withdraw his troops may be precipitous. Jihadist pockets remain in northern Mali and a social divide between Mali’s ruling south and impoverished north runs deep. (Note that resentment from ethnic Tuaregs in the north, who seek an autonomous state, was a major factor behind last year’s instability.) Algerian-brokered peace talks between Tuareg groups and Bamako are set to recommence Wednesday but separatists have thus far proven reluctant to make concessions. The Malian government is lacking on this front as well; this spring, Paris called out new Malian leader Ibrahim Boubecar Keita, who had yet to cross the 15th parallel dividing northern and southern Mali, for his failure to make sufficient overtures to Tuareg groups.
So why the rush to leave? France has a new objective: fight terrorism in the Sahel via Operation Barkhane, which will mobilize 3,000 French troops to be deployed in Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Here we have a return to France’s conflicted Africa strategy – though President Francois Hollande has voiced his desire to dial down his country’s African presence, and notably relinquish its ‘gendarme’ role, France remains a leading player on the continent, cleaning up the Mali mess, as well as leading a more problematic intervention in the Central African Republic. (Hollande’s Africa campaigns, which have been received relatively favorably on the home front, reflect a domestic political calculus as well as a desire to boost France’s waning global influence.)
Now, France’s Africa role is set to expand even further. Little wonder. With violent Islamist movements gathering steam in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Nigeria, to name a few, and French assets increasingly in such groups’ crosshairs, regional security is more critical than ever to Paris. In the meantime, let’s hope the dust settles in Mali.
