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Now France could pull its thousands of troops from Mali, Le Drian said late Monday — a move that would upend the international fight against extremist groups spreading across West Africa. “If the conditions are no longer in place so that we can act in Mali — which is clearly the case — then we will continue to fight terrorism next door,” the French official told France 5.
An announcement from French President Emmanuel Macron is expected as early as this week, two officials with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post.
“We will reorganize to ensure the fight against terrorism continues,” Le Drian said on the broadcast.
France sent troops to Mali in 2013 to stop al-Qaeda-linked militants from storming the capital, Bamako, after the fighters had seized cities in the north, including storied Timbuktu. After that successful mission, French flags draped over balconies as people cheered on the foreign soldiers.
But over the last decade, the extremists regrouped and drilled further into Mali’s countryside while spilling into neighboring countries. Malians wondered why the French forces in West Africa — which stood at 5,100 last year — couldn’t stop the menace. Some blamed the former colonial power for making it worse.
Thousands of West Africans have died and millions have lost their homes as fighters who claim adherence to the extremist al-Qaeda and the Islamic State groups grabbed more territory. Analysts describe it as one of the fastest-growing insurgencies in the world.
By October 2021, a survey from Malian statistician Sadiki Guindo found that only 26.1 percent of Bamako residents had a “favorable” opinion of France, while 88 percent said they liked Russia. Earlier this month, video showed protesters in the capital burning cardboard cutouts of the French president.
“We don’t want the French here,” said Yacoube Sangare, a 66-year-old village council member in a region south of Bamako. He was 4-years-old when Mali asserted its independence from France. His parents recalled being treated as subjects.
Simmering resentments have burst into rage, he said. People can’t travel far north of Bamako without risking their lives — extremists plant bombs in the roads — and with swaths of farmland cut off, it’s hard for to put food on the table.
“We blame France for this, and our past leaders for working with them,” Sangare said. ‘We’re ready for them to leave today.”
The French military footprint in Mali isn’t beloved in Paris, either: One columnist for the center-left Le Monde newspaper called the situation a “diplomatic and military humiliation.”
“Nine years after its start, the mission in Mali has failed to achieve any of its objectives — to ensure Mali’s integrity and restore the state there, defeat the jihadists and prevent their proliferation in West Africa,” columnist Philippe Bernard wrote.
The Élysée has so far not confirmed reports that a withdrawal from Mali could be imminently decided.
Last spring, Mali counted its second coup d’etat in nine months and a special forces officer, Col. Assimi Goïta, put himself in charge of the nation of 21 million. Macron condemned the takeover. Three weeks later, Paris announced a gradual withdrawal of troops from West Africa.
France’s 5,100 troops were focused on curbing the extremist threat in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. By February, about 4,000 remained. The Élysée had initially planned to reduce the number to about 2,500 over the next year.
A European counterterrorism force called Takuba was supposed to pick up the slack. Now that effort is also at risk: Nearly half of the 800 soldiers deployed are French, and Mali kicked out 100 Danish soldiers that had arrived last month at France’s invitation, citing a lack of paperwork. (Sweden also said it would withdraw troops from Takuba.)
European allies have blasted the late December arrival of “hundreds” of Russian mercenaries. The deployment of such private contractors to Mali “can only further deteriorate the security situation in West Africa,” France and 14 other Western powers said in a joint statement. Russian mercenaries, which have been hired in several African nations, have a track record of human rights abuses, according to a panel of U.N. experts, including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and sexual assault.
Mali’s government has denied working with mercenaries, saying that only Russian trainers — “state-to-state” allies — are active in the country. Previously, officials said they courted Moscow’s help because France was leaving.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has contradicted that claim, saying at a news conference with Macron this month that the Kremlin had “nothing to do” with “private” security contractors in Mali.
Noack reported from Paris.
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