The newspaper Le Monde announces that the last French soldier of the Barkhane operation has also left Mali. The French military operation in the African country lasted 9 years and ended in a humiliating way for the former colonial power.
On Monday 15 August, the last detachment of the Barkhane force present on Malian territory crossed the border between Mali and Niger, announced the French Army General Staff.
The first French soldiers were deployed to Mali in 2013 as part of the "Serval" counter-terrorism operation, which became "Barkhane" the following year. The last soldiers, who left on Monday, were in the Gao camp, the main military base of the French operation of 5,100 men in the Sahel, present in Mali, Niger and Chad.
Beyond the formal words, the end of the Barkhane operation in Mali represents a setback for France.
African magazine Jeune Afrique reports that on August 16, Mali's foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop wrote to the United Nations Security Council to ask for an emergency meeting on the situation in his country. In his letter, the head of diplomacy multiplies the accusations against France and its soldiers, the last of whom officially left Malian territory on 15 August.
Relations between the new government of Bamako and Paris had begun to crack after the two coups that led the military to rule the country, condemned by Macron.
Then the diplomatic crisis rose in tone with the expulsion of the French ambassador from the capital of Mali, to definitively crack with the accusations brought by France of the presence in Mali of the Russian contractors of the Wagner Company. Russian weapons, including planes and helicopters, arrived in Mali last week. These are four L-39 advanced and attack training aircraft, a Su-25 attack aircraft, a Mi-24P helicopter, a Mi-8 transport helicopter and an Airbus C295 tactical transport aircraft.
Mali has thus strengthened its air force by turning to Russia. Thanks to the retreat of France, the two countries intend to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the commercial, economic and other sectors such as the military. According to reports from the Malian president, an agreement was also found in talks with Putin to supply Mali with Russian food, fertilizers and fuel.
The previous Malian regime, ousted by the coup leaders, was accused of inefficiency in the face of the jihadist threat that has plagued the country for decades.
When the withdrawal of the Barkhane force was completed earlier this week, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop wrote a letter to the UN Security Council denouncing the violations of Mali's airspace. Diop also accused the French army of supporting the jihadists. The information was revealed by Jeune Afrique, but Radio France Internationale also reports that it was able to view the letter.
The accusations of the Malian foreign minister are not light: France is allegedly supplying weapons, ammunition and intelligence to the jihadist terrorists operating in Mali. The letter written by Abdoulaye Diop is dated August 15 and the minister begins by listing a series of cases presented as repeated and frequent violations of Malian airspace by French forces: drones, helicopters or fighter planes would have flown over Mali without authorization from Bamako.
About fifty cases have been registered since the beginning of the year. Abdoulaye Diop denounced espionage activities and, more seriously, parcels dropped by the French army. According to Diop, Mali has several elements that show that these illegal forays into the Malian sky have served France to gather information for the benefit of terrorist groups and to drop weapons and ammunition.
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