France will reconfigure its military presence in the Sahel region of western Africa rather than leave, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday after announcing a planned drawdown
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2021) France will reconfigure its military presence in the Sahel region of western Africa rather than leave, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday after announcing a planned drawdown.
"We are not going to leave Sahel but we will have another model of military presence... for the sake of our security and that of member states," Le Drian said at a press conference in Madrid.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of anti-terror Operation Barkhane in Sahel in June in favor of a broader international effort. He said the country's 5,100-strong presence would be reduced in the coming months.
Following the online G5 summit on the Sahel on Friday, Macron specified that the closure of military bases in northern Mali was planned to begin in the second half of this year and end by early 2022. France will keep 2,500-3,000 military personnel in the Sahel in the coming months, he added.
The French leader also outlined that the country's upgraded military pattern in region would include two missions, the one handling the disruption and neutralization of acting terrorist groups, and the second focusing on the support and boosting of security forces in the region.
France launched the mission in cooperation with the armies of Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and Niger in 2014.
