[…] On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Pau summit, France finds itself at a turning point in a murderous and unpopular military engagement in the Sahel. As Takuba begins to fully deploy, the future of France’s support to the G5 Sahel countries remains ambiguous. But one thing is clear: the fight against Islamist terrorism in the Sahel cannot be definitively won as long as these countries do not become their own providers of security and stability, an unrealistic scenario in the medium and even long term. […]
While President Macron insisted in Pau that the time for ambiguity is over, days after massive protests against the French presence in Mali, members of the G5 Sahel have not shown a solid alignment with Paris over the past year. As early as February 2020, the Malian government considered starting negotiations with terrorist groups, a lawlessness for France, as this would contradict the strategic discourse of its military involvement in the region. Läs artikel