President Mohamed Bazoum, says Niger has accepted that French and European special forces be deployed into its territory from Mali to boost security near the border with its neighbouring country.
Bazoum’s comment on Friday, February 18, 2022, comes after France and European allies announced their decision to withdraw troops from Mali fighting armed groups operating in the western portion of Africa’s Sahel region.
“Our goal is for our border with Mali to be secure,” Bazoum said on Twitter. He further noted that he expected threats from the armed groups to rise in the area following the departure of the forces.
“This area will be even more infested and the terrorist groups will strengthen. We know that they are destined to extend their influence,” Bazoum said, adding that the deployed forces would be able to respond to threats from armed groups in the area.
Some 2,400 French troops, part of the forces deployed in Mali to combat groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), and about 900 special forces in the French-led Takuba task force, are expected to leave Mali in coming months.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have struggled to contain armed groups that have killed hundreds and displaced millions of people.
Maïkol Zodi, a leader of a movement that is leading protests against foreign troops in Niger, said on Thursday, February 17, 2022, that the presence of the troops was illegal.
“It is unacceptable and intolerable to accept this redeployment on our territory. If they do, we will treat them as an occupying force.”
Maïkol Zodi
‘A Malian problem’
Mali has struggled to regain stability since 2012 after ethnic Tuareg rebels and loosely aligned armed groups seized two-thirds of the country’s northern part.
Forces from the former colonial power, France, intervened and helped beat the armed groups in 2013, but the fighters regrouped in the desert and began carrying out regular attacks on the army and civilians. They have since exported their methods to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger where violence has skyrocketed in recent years, leaving a grave humanitarian crisis in its wake.
France has about 4,300 troops in the Sahel region, including 2,400 in Mali. Its so-called Barkhane force is also involved in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
A statement signed by France and its African and European allies on Thursday, February 17, 2022, said that “multiple obstructions” by Mali’s ruling military government meant that the conditions were no longer in place to operate in the country.
France and 15 European countries in December 2021, condemned the Malian authorities’ decision to allow the deployment of personnel from Russia’s Wagner Group, which has reportedly started operating in the country and is accused of rights abuses in the Central African Republic, Libya and Syria.
The withdrawal decision applies to both Barkhane and the Takuba European force that France has tried forging along with its allies.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, said France’s bases in Gossi, Menaka and Gao in Mali would be closed within the next four to six months and promised an “orderly” withdrawal.
On Friday, February 18, 2022, French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said Mali’s capacity to fight against armed groups on its territory is now its (Mali) own issue.
“This is a Malian problem, it is not a French problem anymore.”
French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian
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