The Sahel countries and their ally France have “changed their dynamics” in the fight against the jihadist insurgency that has lasted for eight years in the region. This was declared on Tuesday by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Speaking to the press after a summit to review a six-month-old strategy with G5 Sahel heads of state, he said “victory was still possible”.
“Europe, its institutions and its member states, our partners and the Americans, the neighboring countries are all on board. And they are by your side, because we are convinced that victory is possible in the Sahel and that it is decisive for balance in Africa and Europe ”.
The one-day summit in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, brought together the presidents of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
Objective: to take stock of a more aggressive strategy in the Sahel, decided in January after a series of failures crowned by the loss of 13 French soldiers in a helicopter accident.
“We must now consolidate and amplify this dynamic, and in the coming weeks, European forces will take over from the French reinforcements that we deployed in January with 600 additional soldiers from Côte d’Ivoire as part of the Tacouba initiative”, said Emmanuel Macron.
Although coalition forces have focused on the “three-border region”, the center of jihadism where the borders of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali converge, jihadists have continued to carry out almost daily attacks.
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