‘Mission accomplished’ — Macron announces withdrawal of French troops from Mali

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has announced the withdrawal of French troops in Mali, after a meeting with African leaders in Brussels, Belgium.

Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Macron said the EU and France no longer share the same priorities with the government in Mali.

“We cannot remain militarily committed with authorities to which we do not share same priorities,” Macron said. 

He also paid tribute to the soldiers who died in Mali, while fighting terrorism in the region. About 48 French soldiers are reported to have died in Mali.

France has a little over 4,000 soldiers in the Sahel, with most of them stationed in Mali.

Macron says most of them will now be redeployed to other countries within the Sahel, where the EU and its African fighters are fighting al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorists.

Macky Sall, the president of Senegal and the chair of the African Union, expressed his gratitude to the EU and agreed with the move to withdraw from Mali.

“We’re hoping that this will allow Mali and the other states to come back to normal civilian dispensation,” noted Sall.

Nana Akufo-Addo, who represents the ECOWAS, said Africa has to keep up the fight against terrorism, he added that Africa “cannot let terrorists stay in Africa, after being chased from middle east and Afghanistan”.

Macron added that he does not believe that the mission in Mali has been a failure. He insisted that French troops did not die in vain, stating that his country and the EU must respect the sovereignty of the people of Mali.

French intervention started in Mali in 2013.

In August 2021, the US accelerated the withdrawal of its troops in Afghanistan after 20 years of fighting Taliban terrorism in the region. The country lost 2,448 Americans in the battle that cost over a trillion dollars.