While the logistical maneuvers to leave Mali have begun, the Barkhane force continues its hunt for jihadist cadres. She claimed the neutralization in northern Mali of an important executive affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
On March 28, 2022, the French force eliminated the jihadist Boubacar Banon, from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM or Jnim in Arabic). “He was neutralized by a drone strike while riding a motorcycle 30 kilometers north of Gossi”said the spokesman for the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, Colonel Pascal Ianni, welcoming “a new tactical success that weakens the Jnim and a network of active cells in the Gao region”.
The Barkhane force has carried out several operations in recent weeks in Mali against the various Al-Qaida groups and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS). “It’s about thirty (jihadists) neutralized in the Liptako. This illustrates that while we are reorganizing the system and we are carrying out fairly complex logistical maneuvers, we continue to fight armed terrorist groups”insisted Colonel Ianni. “Yes Barkhane continues to operate in Mali. We are able to strike terrorist groups when we have the opportunity”, he says. Too, “As part of our disengagement operations, we also need to ensure our own security”.
Barkhane also intervenes in support of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) at their request. Joint operations continue.
“We continue to coordinate. We are able to intervene for the benefit of the FAMA if they ask us to. We manage to find out what each other is doing. We also exchange information and we can possibly be required to carry out medical evacuations if requested to do so”
General Du Peyroux, representative of Operation Barkhane in Maliat Studio Tamani
Some 2,400 French soldiers are still present in Mali, out of a total of 4,600 in the Sahel. In February 2022, France announced its withdrawal before six months at the request of the Malian junta, which meant a change of alliance by welcoming Wagner’s Russian mercenaries.
France reaffirmed that it did not intend to cease its fight against the jihadists who rage in the region and wished to support the neighboring countries of the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa, where terrorist groups threaten to spread.
Paris is considering a gradual move of French Barkhane forces to Niger at the request of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. The Nigerien parliament must decide in the coming days on the arrival of the European forces Takuba and Barkhane on its soil.