L’announcement was certainly expected but it is no less sensational. Barkhane – the longest French external military operation since the end of the Algerian war, with 4,800 soldiers deployed in the Sahel – is coming to an end. Why now ? “Because nothing was going well between Paris and Bamako, the divorce was done in several stages, explains Seidik Abba, journalist and specialist in the Sahel region. First in June 2021 when Emmanuel Macron announced the end of Operation Barkhane and a gradual disengagement of French forces in the Sahel. Except that the Malian authorities of the transition did not appreciate not having, they say, been associated with the French decision, continues the expert. Claiming to be abandoned and ready to do anything to save the populatio…
