The French President solemnly spoke this Wednesday, November 9, 2022 from Toulon, in the south of France, to present Paris’ new defense strategy. Emmanuel Macron formalized the end of Operation Barkhane, and announced that the new French strategy in Africa would be finalized within six months.
After years of fighting terrorism in Mali, ” I have decided, in coordination with our partners, to formalize today the end of Operation Barkhane “, said President Macron this Wednesday in Toulon.
The Head of State sees it as a ” result of recent developments as the authorities currently in charge in Bamako work with the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.
The announcement will have no immediate consequences. The French army has already left Mali, last August. But it still includes 3,000 soldiers deployed in Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.
In the future, ” our interventions should have better deadlines and from the beginning. We do not want to remain engaged for an unlimited period in external operations “, pleads Emmanuel Macron.
Our military support to the African countries of the region will continue, but according to the new principles that we have defined with them (…) It will be declined at the level of each country according to the needs that will be expressed by our partners.
Our interventions must be better limited in time. (…) Indeed, we do not have the vocation to remain engaged without time limit in external operations.
“Strategy finalized within six months”
The French president, who spoke to senior members of the armed forces and diplomats aboard a helicopter carrier, did not announce an immediate reduction in the number of personnel deployed.
In the coming days, he said, however, exchanges will be launched with African nations and regional organizations “ to change the status, format and mission » French bases in Africa.
Objective now: to continue to act discreetly. ” Our soldiers remain covered, protected, supported, administered in conditions that are satisfactory “. The new strategy in Africa will be finalized within six months.
It should be based on closer cooperation with African armies. “ Our commitments with our partners in Africa will be based on a logic of cooperation and recourse to their weapons. »
In the coming days, we will launch a phase of exchanges with our African partners, our allies and regional organizations to jointly develop the status, format and missions of the current French military bases in the Sahel and in West Africa.
This strategy will be finalized within six months (…). It is essential and it is one of the consequences that we draw from what we have experienced in recent years throughout the Sahel region.
“Mirror games, bots, trolls”
Among other things, the Head of State wishes that “ influence » be elevated to the rank of « strategic function in terms of defence, in the context of the hardening of the information warfare in the world.
Faced with narratives deemed hostile to Paris, “ we will not be patient spectators “, assures Mr. Macron. “ Convincing is clearly part of the strategic requirements “, he believes, promising substantial means.
The Head of State deplores the existence of ” a whole digital bestiary ” directed by ” our rivals to contest our security and our influence and spread, in addition to false accounts, an appetite for violence »…
You have to know ” detect without delay these forms of hybrid warfare, the hinder ” and, “ in our turn, but in the manner of a democracy, to get ahead of it, to use it to our advantage in the digital and physical fields “.
We have seen enough how in Africa (…) often at the instigation of outside actors, malicious stories take hold, be multiplied by games of mirrors, bots, trolls.
An attitude that is only reactive, even defensive, could pass for a form of passivity, it will not be ours.
With agencies
►To re-read: Six months to leave Mali, bet held for Barkhane’s soldiers