The French President receives, Friday, November 12, his Burkinabé counterparts Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, Chadian Mahamat Idriss Déby and Nigerien Mohamed Bazoum to discuss “The situation in the Sahel”, announced Thursday the Elysee.
This meeting is organized in the morning on the sidelines of an international conference for Libya and the Forum for Peace. She must wear “On the regional dimension of the Libyan crisis”, said a source close to the presidency.
It comes at a time when relations between France, a former colonial power and historic partner, and Mali have deteriorated, after a new coup in Bamako.
Downsizing
Paris undertook in June to reorganize its military system in the Sahel, notably by leaving its three bases in the northernmost part of Mali to refocus it around Gao and Ménaka, on the borders of Niger and Burkina Faso. This plan provides for a reduction of the workforce, from more than 5,000 at present, to 2,500 or 3,000 by 2023.
The tension rose a notch in September when the Malian transitional prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga accused Paris of a “Abandonment in mid-flight” because of this plan. Critics supposed to justify the possible recourse by Bamako to the Russian private paramilitary company Wagner, described as close to Russian President Vladimir Poutine.
The heads of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov and Malian Abdoulaye Diop reaffirmed Thursday their desire to continue the military partnership between the two countries, arguing a terrorist risk reinforced by the partial withdrawal of French troops.
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