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Emmanuel Macron acted, Thursday, February 17, the withdrawal of French soldiers from Mali. They are still 2,400 on site and should be evacuated within four to six months. Some soldiers will be redeployed, notably to Niger.
When the departure of the French troops was announced, a group of demonstrators chanted “Down with France”. “We are happy. People are happy everywhere, for the departure from France”, confides a Malian. Anti-French sentiment was stoked by the military junta, arrival in power after a coup. For Emmanuel Macron, there is no question of talking about failure. “Victory against terrorism is not possible if it is not carried by the State itself”, defended the President of the Republic, Thursday, February 17.
Three bases have already been evacuated in the north of the country. 2,000 soldiers are still there. The last French and European camps will be closed by the summer. In 2013, François Hollande was welcomed as a hero in Mali. France came to halt the progress of the jihadist groups to the Malian capital. In nine years, many terrorist leaders have been killed, but the threat has spread south, and new countries are under attack. France will keep nearly 3,000 soldiers in the rest of the Sahel, particularly in Niger, for specific, rapid and more discreet actions.