Manon Fossat
modified to
9:15 a.m., February 17, 2022
On Europe Matin Thursday, the former Minister of Defense, Hervé Morin returned to the withdrawal of French troops from Mali, announced this Thursday in a joint statement. He felt that there were no other solutions for France and that we must “reconsider the system”.
Emmanuel Macron announced this Thursday morning during a press conference “the coordinated withdrawal” of French and European troops from Mali. An inevitable departure because of relations that have become execrable with the junta in power in Bamako. Guest on Europe Matin on Thursday, the former Minister of Defense, Hervé Morin returned to this withdrawal and felt that there were no other solutions.
“We must reconsider the system”
“I have been saying for a year and a half that we should not stay in Mali under these conditions. I have experienced this situation with Afghanistan and I have the feeling that from the moment there is no does not have the capacity to build a new state and that from month to month we appear as an occupying force, we must reconsider the system,” he said.
According to Hervé Morin, we must indeed change our way of doing things. “We cannot intervene on such large areas, namely eight or ten times the size of France, in completely asymmetrical wars”, he continued. “But you shouldn’t go the American way either, overnight. There’s no doubt about that.”
“Most welcome” in Mali
“The Malian government has decided to tell us a simple thing, namely that we are no longer welcome. And we take note,” observed the former Minister of Defense. France, its European partners and Canada announced on Thursday the withdrawal of Mali from anti-jihadist military operations Barkhane and Takuba due to the deterioration of relations with the junta in Bamako.
“The political, operational and legal conditions are no longer met” and the countries have decided “the coordinated withdrawal” from Mali, while assuring their “willingness to remain engaged in the region” of the Sahel plagued by jihadist contagion, according to a joint statement.