Mali: Macron Withdraws The French Troops, Wagner Arrives

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Written by Piero Messina

After nine years, the French soldiers leave Mali. For Macron it is a necessary defeat. Three months before the presidential elections in France, the move by the French president was inevitable. The withdrawal of the Elysée troops from the African country had already begun in June last summer. Now, the deployment to the Ivory Coast will be completed in a very short time. Mali risked becoming for France what Afghanistan was for the United States. But, in the face of the international media. Macron rejects the idea of a failed military mission. For Macron, who completely rejects the idea of ‘failure’ “, stating that” if France had not intervened, there would certainly have been a collapse of the Malian state “.

For the tenant of the Elysée, the commitment against Islamic terrorism in the Sahel of France and the allies will continue, despite the withdrawal of the military from Mali. Since 2013, “France has played a unifying role in this international mobilization in favor of the Sahel” and “we will continue to guarantee this role,” he said at a press conference at the Elysée. The president then stated that “the fight against terrorism cannot justify everything, it must not, under the pretext of being an absolute priority, become an exercise in the indefinite conservation of power”. In reality, the withdrawal of the French military is due to the poor relations between Paris and Bamako. In January, the West African states (Cedeao / Ecowas) meeting in Accra had decided to issue sanctions against Colonel Gaita’s military junta which took power in Mali. The country ended up under an embargo and the borders were closed in response to the military junta of Bamako which reaffirmed its intention to remain in power, postponing the electoral consultations.

Relations between Paris and Bamako have been increasingly strained since the coup colonel Goita and his men seized power in Mali in August 2020, mortgaging the course of the political transition to democratic power.

Tensions that have rekindled several times in recent months, such as when the French president questioned the credibility of the new Malian government in various fora and occasions and lobbied to prevent Bamako from resorting to paramilitaries from the Russian company Wagner in the fight against terrorism. This mission also failed. The paramilitary troops have been in the service of the Bamako junta since the end of 2021.

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