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Added on the 11/06/2021 22:45:55 - Copyright : France 24 EN
France and its European allies are pulling their troops out of Mali after the country's military junta brought in Russian mercenaries and refused to stick to a calender to hold elections. We look at the rollercoaster in relations since the French were greeted as saviours a decade ago for stopping a jihadist takeover.
The French Sahel mission, known as Operation Barkhane, began on Tuesday the final phase of the transfer of the Kidal base in northern Mali to the United Nations forces (Minusma) and the Malian army. FRANCE 24's Senior Reporter Cyril Payen tells us more.
Their deaths on Saturday bring to five the number of French soldiers killed in operations in the West African country over the past week.
A new French military base is under construction in east-central Mali. "These border areas are obviously the places most sought after by terrorists to carry out their actions," said General Frederic Blachon, commander of Operation Barkhane, France's 4,500-strong anti-jihadist force which is headquartered in Chad but operates across the Sahel region.
Nina Wilén, Head of the Africa Programme at the Egmont Institute and Professor at the Department of Political Science at Lund University, talks about the decision of France and its allies to withdraw troops from Mali
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