France is reshaping their mission in West Africa.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron at the press conference announcing the change. Reuters. 

France will reshape their mission in West Africa and will close three bases in Northern Mali. Reuters. France has had some success against ISIS and al-Qaeda linked militants in the past few months but West Africa remains unstable. The main threat comes from the costal states where the militants are most active, which is why France will be shutting down three bases in Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit. Eventually Franc will pull out some of the 5000 troops stationed in West Africa. The French goal will be targeting ISIS leadership and modernizing and training the militaries of the West African countries, including Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. 

My Comment:

Just a quick reminder to people that France has troops deployed in West Africa to fight Islamic extremists. The conflict in the Sahel region is so off the radar for western media I think most people don't even realize it is happening. But France is still fighting jihadist militas with links to al-Qaeda and ISIS. 

Indeed, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is one of the last and most dangerous remaining al-Qaeda affiliates. They have launched major terror attacks and threaten the local governments. And they are not the only game in town. Boko Haram, the ISIS affiliate in the region, is also a major threat, though they mostly stick to Nigeria. There are other Islamic militias running around in this region as well. 

Why does France care? Well for one thing these countries are former French colonies so they bear some responsibility for them. French people still use these areas for vacations and the countries have strong ties to France. 

Plus if these groups do become strong enough to launch overseas attacks, who do you think would be the first target? France has enough problems with domestic jihadists that they surely don't want a repeat of the various attacks they had in the middle of the last decade. They do not want these terror groups to gain a major foothold and then launch attacks at them. 

How effective has France been? It seems that their combat arms have been fairly good. I never hear of Islamists beating units that have French backing. It just seems that training has been a problem for them. The local militaries have not been able to stand on their own against these terrorists. I am guessing that this redeployment of troops will be their latest attempt to address that...