And they added, in a statement, that they agreed to make plans on how to stay in the region, especially Niger and the Gulf of Guinea states, by June 2022.
Relations between Paris and Bamako have deteriorated since the junta backed away from an agreement to organize elections in February and proposed to keep power until 2025. The junta has also deployed private contractors from Russia, which some European countries have said contradicts its mission.
“Because many obstacles were encountered by the transitional authorities in Mali, Canada and European countries working together with Operation Barkhane and with the Takoba Mission consider that the political, operational and legal conditions are no longer conducive to continuing their effective military engagement in the fight against terrorism in Mali,” the statement read. “.
The statement was issued by countries working with the French anti-terrorist force Barkhane and the Takoba mission, which includes about 14 European countries.
The statement revealed that the countries “have decided to start a coordinated withdrawal of their military resources allocated to these operations from the territory of Mali.”
Following the announcement of the withdrawal, French President Emmanuel Macron said that European soldiers participating in the Takuba special forces grouping “will be repositioned alongside the Nigerian armed forces in the border region of Mali.”
“This withdrawal (…) will be carried out in an orderly manner with the Malian armed forces and the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA),” Macron said at a press conference, stressing that “during this period we will maintain our missions in support of the interest” of the mission.
He pointed out that the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea are “priorities in the expansion strategy” of al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists.
“Al-Qaeda and ISIS have chosen to make Africa and the Sahel in particular, and now increasingly the Gulf of Guinea, a priority in their expansion strategy,” he added.