” Barkane had to pack up. And faster than expected “, spear Releasewhile emphasizing that this end clap in Mali does not mean the end of the fight against a ” jihadist insurgency out of control “, as this daily puts it. Who finds that the withdrawal of “Barkhane” from Mali sounded like a ” funeral oration for one of the longest external operations of the Vand Republic “.
This farewell from France to Mali, in what the newspaper The echoes call ” the biggest war of the world, leaves in any case to the dailies The cross and The Parisian like a taste bitter “.
France ” must rethink its mode of action in West Africa “, sermons the first. Not failing to mention the African youth ” vibrant, eager to take her destiny into her own hands », The cross invites France to be more discreet “.
” How? ‘Or’ What do not experience a sense of waste while terrorism affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (…) is still rife, extending even beyond the Sahel to the countries of the Gulf of Guinea and destabilizing more than ever the States of the region? asks himself – sorry – The Parisian… which newspaper explains that “ the president (quasi) candidate wanted to avoid the risk of interference by putschist colonels in the countryside, with images of anti-French demonstrations and tricolor flags burned in Mali “. This is why the French presidency has ” neat the staging: Macron appeared flanked by African and European leaders. Way to show that France is not alone and acts in consultation with its allies “, highlighted The Parisian. Especially since the “ first concerned by this radical decision, the soldiers also deny any idea of defeat “.
Defeat, maybe not, but failure ” and ” shock » surely, esteem The world. ” Failure for Paris and for Bamako “first, for the ” heavy military operations in Africa “Then, underlines this evening daily, deploring the loss of” fifty three soldiers » French, but also that of « more than 10,200 Malians (who) have died in the violence since 2015 “.
Failure and shock
Failed to “ Barchan ” in Mali ? Yesterday, at the Elysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron did, however, ” completely » recused, emphasizes Le Figaro. However, this newspaper notes, the operation did not ” not allowed to overcome a threat posed by a few hundred jihadist fighters “. Consequently, Le Figaro somehow sets the new orientation of the mission: “ forget Mali. But continue elsewhere and differently “.
For Humanityon the other hand, no doubt, it is indeed a ” failure “. And even if this word scares Emmanuel Macron », the French communist daily believes that this « bankruptcy ” could ” mark the inexorable decline of Françafrique “. Waiting for, ” our soldiers “will in particular be arranged” alongside the satrap Ouattara in Côte d’Ivoire, says L’Huma. Beautiful image… And another failure to come », thus predicts Humanity.
Impossible mission
By way of conclusion, just an excerpt from a column published by The cross and signed by a former executive of the French Development Agency. Serge Michaïlof, since it is about him, is now an associate researcher at IRIS, the Institute of International and Strategic Relations. And he believes that in Mali, ” our fetish for a breathless democracy has led our diplomacy to add a series of blunders to the initial error made by President Hollande of transforming Operation Serval, with clear and limited objectives, into a Operation Barkhane with vague and unattainable objectives “, analyzes Serge Michaïlof in The cross.