’ No reduction of Barkhane force in Sahel’ - President Macron
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - French President Emmanuel Macron has made it clear that the downsizing of the anti-Jihadist operation Barkhane, which currently has some 5,100 men in the Sahel, was not yet on the agenda, reassuring the Heads of State of the G5 Sahel meeting on Monday and Tuesday in N'Djamena, Chad, the Malian news agency reported on Wednesday.
Macron spoke on the subject on Tuesday at a press conference in Paris.
"Significant changes will undoubtedly be made to our military in the Sahel in due course, but they will not intervene immediately," he said, on the sidelines of the G5 Sahel Summit in N'Djamena, Chad.
He explained that "it would be paradoxical to weaken our system at a time when we have a political and military alignment favourable to the achievement of our objectives.
President Macron took part in the Summit, by video conference from Paris.
The G5 Sahel Summit brought together five Sahelian countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Mauritania to take stock of the actions carried out since the Pau Summit in France a year ago.
Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno announced late Monday the deployment of 1,200 soldiers in the area known as the "three borders", between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, to fight jihadists.
-0- PANA GT/JSG/SOC/MTA/AR 17 Feb2021
