Two short days in Chad will they be enough to agree on the means to resolve the crisis in the Sahel and in particular in Mali ? This crisis weakens States on the verge of bankruptcy ; it allows extremist groups to establish themselves in areas where national sovereignty is lying fallow; finally, it mobilizes substantial international forces which fight against the terrorist threat.
Completing the military dynamic
The ambition of France and its African and Western allies is to supplement the military dynamic that has prevailed since 2013 with a symmetrical leap in the civilian sectors, in particular by aiming for the return of the State to the most troubled regions. “The Pau summit (in February 2020) was that of the military burst. That of N’Djamena will be that of the diplomatic, political and development leap in order to consolidate the results of the last few months ”, insisted the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian before the Senate, during a debate on the French commitment to the Sahel.
In N’Djamena, it will no longer be a question of ” readjustment ”of the military system. The modalities of the resizing of the French force Barkhane (5,200 soldiers deployed in the area) will be decided over the next few weeks and months ”, the Elysee said.
The path will therefore remain that of arms, with the maintenance of French troops, the rise of the force Takuba with which half a dozen European countries are associated, and the repeated support of United States whose soldiers have been closely associated with recent large-scale operations against terrorist groups in the famous and bustling zone of the three borders (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso).
A dual approach
But to the military effort, costly in human lives, both civil and military, must be added a political approach by the Sahelian states. Hence the meetings of his last weeks between Emmanuel Macron and each of the five presidents of the five countries of the Sahel. The approach is twofold: regain the confidence of the populations by redeploying the State and to negotiate with the only groups that “Agree to register their actions within the framework of the State”. The others are Al-Qaida or Daesh terrorists. However, as Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Yves Le Drian assure, “We do not negotiate with terrorists, we fight them”.
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