Sahel countries agreed to form unified military force

Leaders of African Sahel countries held a summit in Mali on Sunday in the presence of French President Emanuel Macron, as they discussed the formation of a unified military force to fight the extremist groups working in the region. The French president stressed that the need for more serious steps during the coming period to eliminate extremism as soon as possible.

French President Emmanuel Macron attended a security summit in Mali on Sunday to boost support for the creation of a regional counter-terror force. But while he may be hoping for an exit strategy for French troops, that prospect still seems far off.

This will be Macron’s second trip to Mali, where France has been militarily engaged since 2013, since he took office barely two months ago: His initial visit, made during the first week of his presidency, was an important symbol as it was his first visit outside of Europe as France’s president.

This weekend, Macron will return to Mali to attend a summit hosted by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta with leaders from neighbouring countries Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania – a group known as the G5 Sahel. They will be talking about a joint force that could equal the deployment of about 5,000 regional troops into the vast, arid Sahel region that remains a breeding ground for human traffickers as well as arms and drugs smugglers.

"This force is first going to secure the borders, particularly in the areas where terrorist groups have developed," French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde.

He further stated that accompanying the new G5 military force would be a priority for Operation Barkhane, France’s ongoing anti-jihad mission for the Sahel region, which is based in Chad. Macron is clearly throwing his weight behind the project – which he may see as part of a (very) gradual exit for French troops.

“We think that we should call on (the G5 states) in this mission, because security for Africans will ultimately only come from Africans themselves,” Le Drian underlined while in Nouakchott, Mauritania, last month. That said, the G5-Sahel force isn’t even operational and there are already questions about its success. So, in short, it doesn’t look like France will be pulling out of Mali anytime soon.

To understand the context, here’s a quick military history. France’s active military engagement in Mali dates back to the January 2013 military intervention (at the Malian government’s request) to oust a motley mix of jihadist groups who seized control of northern Mali. That same month, the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, also deployed forces as part of the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA, or in French, MISMA).