The French army officially leaves the Ménaka military base in northeastern Mali and hands over the keys to the Malian armed forces (FAMa), the penultimate stage of the departure of the Barkhane anti-jihadist force from the country.
The French soldiers officially hand over to the Malian army, Monday, June 13, the base of Menaka, in the north-east of the country, where were also stationed men of the European force Takuba. This withdrawal is taking place while this region is experiencing a significant deterioration in security, with an increase in offensives by the Islamic State group since the beginning of March.
The French soldiers will leave Mali for good “at the end of the summer” with the transfer to the FAMa of their main hold in Gao, underlined the spokesman for the general staff, General Pascal Ianni, during a press briefing.
Opened in 2018, the Ménaka base, in the region known as the three borders, on the borders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, notably housed the group of French and European special forces Takuba, which aimed to help the forces Malians to gain autonomy. His PC is maintained in Gao, before his disappearance. “There are no plans to transfer Takuba to Niger,” said the staff.
Relations between the junta in power in Bamako and Paris, a former colonial power, have deteriorated sharply in recent months, particularly since the arrival in Mali of paramilitaries from the Russian group Wagner, pushing the two countries to break up after nine years of uninterrupted French presence to fight against the jihadists.
A departure “conducted in good order”
Ménaka’s departure on Monday “was carried out in good order, in safety and in complete transparency, in a context where the anti-jihadist force Barkhane faces regular information attacks aimed at tarnishing its action and its credibility”, comments the Staff.
The day after the previous handover of a French base, in April in Gossi, the French general staff had broadcast videos shot by a drone near this area showing paramilitaries, most likely from the Wagner group, in the process of bury bodies in order to accuse France of war crimes.
Thus, before the handover of Ménaka, the French army was “very vigilant to information attacks”, suspecting possible maneuvers to harm its image, in particular through the organization of anti-French demonstrations, or accusations of collusion between Barkhane and jihadists, who have already transpired on social media.
Barkhane in the Sahel, France’s current largest external operation, has mobilized up to 5,500 men on the ground in 2020. Paris decided to scale back last summer, closing its northernmost advanced military bases. Mali, in Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu.
Emmanuel Macron then decided in February on a total military withdrawal from Mali, in a degraded security context and diplomatic crisis between Paris and Bamako.
However, “the rearticulation of the Barkhane force and the transfer of the influence of Ménaka, after that of Gossi, does not mark the departure of the French armies from the Sahelo-Saharan strip”, argues the staff, assuring that “commitment to the fight against terrorism, alongside the States of the region, at their request (…) remains an absolute priority”.