the withdrawal of French troops will take 4 to 6 months

“France is a terrorist”, “Thank you Wagner”, in reference to Russian mercenaries in Mali. The anti-French demonstration gathered only a few hundred people in Bamako, but the slogans of the demonstrators have never been so violent. Malians celebrate the announced departure of the country’s soldiers: “We went out to hunt France, we don’t need it. She stayed with us too long”. The military junta in power wants the immediate withdrawal of French soldiers in Mali, but the refusal is categorical from Paris which will remain on its deadline of 4 to 6 months.

There are still 2,000 French soldiers in Mali, who arrived in 2013 to stem the progress of the jihadists. Nine years later, the last French camps will close by summer in a real logistical challenge. France intends to keep nearly 3,000 soldiers in the rest of the Sahel, particularly in Niger, for specific, rapid and more discreet actions.