”The more we help Mali the more it collapses,” said Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos of France’s Institute of Development Research (IRD).
He pointed to a military coup in August that echoed a putsch in 2012, a year before the French arrived.
“The longer we stay the harder it will be to leave,” Perouse de Montclos said, adding: “Beyond the number of (French) dead, the real question is how to withdraw without losing face.”
The Arab Weekly 7 januari