The information was only revealed on February 12 by the French General Staff: on February 10, the Barkhane force killed 40 Islamist jihadists implicated in deadly attacks in Benin. The first strike was carried out in the morning by a Reaper drone which targeted a column of jihadists traveling on motorbikes: a dozen of them were killed as they had just entered Burkina Faso.
A Mirage 2000 patrol then carried out three more bombardments against nearby terrorist groups. Result: around thirty additional jihadists killed, around ten motorcycles and a pick-up truck destroyed.
Barchan | On 02/10, @BARKHANE_OP conducted an operation, in agreement and coordination with the Burkinabè armed forces, targeting an armed terrorist group responsible for two attacks in Benin on 08/02.
Result: 40 terrorists neutralized and nearly twenty motorcycles destroyed. pic.twitter.com/4ndNOxg2pA– French Army – Military Operations (@EtatMajorFR) February 12, 2022
This operation was carried out after aerial intelligence work: the group had been tracked for several days on the borders of Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger, but it was indeed on Burkinabe territory, a country where French forces are not parked, that the operation took place. An operation carried out in coordination with Benin and Burkina Faso, insists the press release from the French army.
The presence of the Barkhane force is violently contested throughout the Sahel, for its significant financial and human cost. In Mali first of all, where the Barkhane troops have been stationed en masse for almost nine years and where it crystallizes the anger of the population in the face of a degraded security situation. Its image is even associated with that of an occupying army. Today, in Mali, his departure is a major issue for the ruling junta, which will thus obtain the popular legitimacy it lacks, failing to have been obtained by elections.
Congratulations to the soldiers of the force @BARKHANE_OP and Burkinabè forces.
A new success which testifies to the good #cooperation between our armies in the fight against armed terrorist groups in #Sahel. https://t.co/6vDld4Gso0– Chief of the Defense Staff (@CEMA_FR) February 12, 2022
Same exasperation in Burkina Faso in the face of this French presence, seen as an attack on the sovereignty of States. In November, a convoy was blocked by anti-French demonstrations. In the country, Barkhane is not very visible, and therefore perceived at least as ineffective. The population is suspicious and does not understand how a force as powerful as the French army does not manage, in nine years of existence, to definitively arrest terrorists traveling on motorcycles in the desert.
On social networks, Barkhane is even accused of complicity with terrorists to allow France to maintain a presence to protect its interests in the region. At the same time, the jihadists extend their field of action towards the south, towards Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.