France has issued a warning regarding the “collapse” of the African Sahel region due to the escalating activities of terrorist organizations and the diminishing French presence following a series of military coups in some of its countries.
In an interview published by the French newspaper “Le Parisien” on its website on Friday, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu regarded the withdrawal of French military forces from Mali and Burkina Faso, soon to be followed by Niger, as not merely a failure of French policy but as a “failure” of the three countries that have witnessed military coups in recent years.
Lecornu stated, “The (military) regime in Mali favored the Wagner Group (a Russian armed group) over the French army. We have seen the result: Bamako has been surrounded by jihadists since then.”
He added that the Sahel region is threatened with collapse, and all of this will end badly for the military councils” governing these three countries.
He mentioned, “The demand for us to leave was sufficient for terrorism to resume its activities,” pointing out that there have been “2,500 killings in Burkina Faso related to terrorism” since the military coup in September 2022.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced this week the withdrawal of the French ambassador from Niamey and the departure of the 1,500 French soldiers stationed in Niger by the end of the year, following two months of tension with the coup leaders who ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in late July.
This withdrawal marks the latest setback for Paris, which was previously expelled from Mali and Burkina Faso, concluding a decade of military intervention against terrorists in the region, according to analysts.
Many observers believe that Paris did not notice or chose not to acknowledge the developments in the region, which includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, and Mauritania.
