France and its allies in the European force have made an announcement that they will start withdrawing military personnel from Mali for nearly ten years fighting an armed unrest.
A statement which has been signed by France and its African and European allies and published on Thursday said that ‘multiple obstructions’ by the ruling military government, which means that the conditions were no longer in effect to operate in Mali.
The decision is applicable to both France’s Barkhane force in the Sahel and the Takuba European force that Paris had been trying to forge along with its allies.
The statement added that, “The political, operational and legal conditions are no longer met to effectively continue their current military engagement in the fight against terrorism in Mali.”
Due to this, the allies have planned to commence the coordinated withdrawal of their respective military resources dedicated to these operations from Mali territory.
The Mali deployment has been filled with problems for France. Of the 53 troops that have been killed serving in its Barkhane mission in West Africa, 48 of them died in Mali.
Earlier, France has deployed the military against rebels in Mali in 2013, but the violence was never fully quelled, and now new fears came out of a rebel push to the Gulf of Guinea.
However, even after the pull-out from Mali, the allies promised to remain engaged in fighting terrorism in other nations, including Niger.
The statement further added that, “They agreed nonetheless to continue their joint action against terrorism in the Sahel region, including in Niger and in the Gulf of Guinea.”
“They have initiated political and military consultations with them while aiming to set out the terms for this shared action by June 2022.”
