French defence minister Yves Le Drian says his country will re-deploy combat troops to northern Mali to counter resurgent terrorist groups in the area following the delayed deployment of the United Nations peacekeeping force which was supposed to secure the area after the departure of the French army.
Speaking in an interview with Radio France International (RFI) on return from Mali where he discussed the deteriorating security situation with President Boubacar Keita, Le Drian said the rapid reaction force will be drawn from forces taking part in ‘Operation Barkhane’, the French counter terrorism operation which covers five countries in the north-western rim of the Sahel desert.
Three thousand troops are deployed as part of Operation Barkhane which involves active combat operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Mauritania. Le Drian said the new force will be deployed ‘very rapidly’ to the Malian town of Tessalit which lies close to the border with Algeria because it is most affected by increased terrorist activity.
He said France has decided to re-deploy because the UN force failed to arrive at the moment when it was needed to stop the re-grouping of jihadist groups and stop the weapons flow from Libya.
“It’s a matter of residual acts but one can see the terrorist armed groups’ intention of recapturing some of their positions. It’s in large part due to the fact that the supply of arms via the south of Libya has become greater,” he said.
The minister said French forces will remain in northern Mali until the peace process involving the government and six rebel groups comes into effect and provides conditions for Bamako to re-assert its authority over the north.
