France formalizes the end of the European force Takuba

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Paris announced on Friday July 1 the end of the Takuba task force in Mali, an aggregation of European special forces, a collateral victim of tensions with the ruling junta in Bamako. Takuba, mounted with great difficulty by former Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly to share with Europeans the burden of the fight against jihadists in the Sahel, succumbed to two coups in Mali in August 2020 and May 2021, in the brutal deterioration of Franco-Malian relations and then the departure this year of the French anti-jihadist force Barkhane.

“The reorganization of the French military system in the Sahel, decided in close collaboration with European and North American partners, led to the end of the operations of the Takuba task force in Mali as of June 30.”

Pascal Ianni, spokesperson for the French Armed Forces

at AFP

Takuba, symbol of European defense dear to French President Emmanuel Macron, ended up bringing together a dozen European countries, and up to 800 to 900 elite soldiers. They were responsible for helping the Malian forces to gain autonomy and allowing them to regain a foothold in the territories abandoned by the state, in the face of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) group.

“Political Game”

Often skeptical at the start, having to obtain the agreement of their respective parliaments, nine European countries ended up accepting the project (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden). The “full operational capability” from Takuba, which means “Saber” in the Tamasheq language, was decreed at the beginning of April 2021. It lasted less than a year: the joint operations in fact ceased last February. “Besides sharing situational awareness, common procedures and a brotherhood in arms have been forged,” greeted the French general staff. But Takuba will not have resisted the tensions with Bamako. In January, the junta had asked Denmark to withdraw its newly arrived but deployed troops, according to it, “without his consent”. Copenhagen had denounced “a dirty political game”.

By breaking with Paris, the military in power in Bamako also broke with their allies. They are accused, even if they deny it, of having called on the private company of Russian mercenaries Wagner, accused of multiple human rights violations and other trafficking in the Middle East and Africa. The sign of a major geopolitical reorientation of Mali, which intensifies the French downgrading in the region and puts a question mark in front of the future of the commitment of Europeans in the anti-jihadist fight in the Sahel. The French army will have left Mali by the end of August after nine years of engagement. And the Minusma, extended for a year, will be deprived of air support. “The ongoing military reconfiguration in the region could jeopardize past counterterrorism efforts,” stressed UN experts.

“Our transformation towards a partnership model was embodied in Mali by Takuba. But the operation was hit in full ramp-up”, acknowledged General Hervé Pierre, who oversees partnerships between the French and West African armies from Niamey. But “Takuba’s spirit will live on in the combat partnership with the Nigeriens, in an even more balanced relationship”. In May, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum called on French and Europeans to “take more risks and don’t be haunted by losses” in the Sahel. He called for their forces to be deployed “with substantial air capabilities, effective rules of engagement, sacrifices, financial means, with many more helicopters, bombs”.

Of the “discussions are ongoing” between Paris and several countries in the region on their needs in terms of military assistance, confirmed General Ianni, as the jihadist threat extends towards the Gulf of Guinea.


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