Pau, FRANCE
French President Emmanuel Macron will on Monday
host counterparts from five Sahel countries seeking more backing in the fight
against a murderous jihadist uprising even as France's military role is being
questioned.
Recent tensions between France and Sahel governments
could make for a tricky exchange at the six-way talks in the southwestern city
of Pau, to be attended also by the heads of the UN, African Union, and EU
Council.
Macron insists his counterparts from Mali, Burkina Faso,
Niger, Mauritania and Chad must use the occasion to express public support for
France's military presence -- by far the largest foreign contribution to the
fight against African jihadists aligned to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State
group.
Visiting the region last month, the French president
complained of a lack of "clear political condemnation of anti-French
feelings" on the ground.
"I see opposition movements, groups, who denounce the
French presence as a neo-colonial, imperialist," Macron said in Niamey,
adding he was loath to send soldiers to countries were their presence was not
"clearly wanted".
Jihadist fighters have recently stepped up their campaign against
military and civilian targets, and earlier this month, UN chief Antonio
Guterres warned that "terrorist groups are gaining ground."
France has 4,500 soldiers stationed in the Europe-sized
region as part of Operation Barkhane, supporting poorly-equipped, impoverished
local armies that in 2017 launched a joint anti-jihadist G5 Sahel force.
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered in the Malian
capital Bamako to protest the presence of foreign troops, carrying posters
reading: "Down with France, Barkhane must leave" and "France is
a brake on our development."
Despite the French presence and a 13,000-strong UN
peacekeeping force dubbed MINUSMA in Mali, the conflict that erupted in the
north of that country in 2012 has since spread to its neighbours, especially
Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and more than a
million displaced, with hundreds of troops dead, including dozens of French
ones.
On Monday, Macron will gather Mali's Ibrahim Boubacar
Keita, Burkina Faso's Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Niger's Mahamadou Issoufou,
Mauritania's Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Chad's Idriss Deby.
They will lay a wreath and observe a minute of silence for
seven soldiers from Pau who died in action in Mali -- among 13 French troops
killed in a helicopter crash while hunting jihadists last November.
The presidents will then gather for the summit Macron has
said must clarify the "political and strategic framework" of the
Sahel military campaign.
After the talks, for which three hours have been set aside,
the leaders will regroup for a working dinner where they will be joined by
Guterres, European Council President Charles Michel and African Union
Commission President Moussa Faki.
Mali's Keita has said the summit will be
"decisive" and "will allow us to put on the table all the
questions, all the grievances, all the solutions".
But he insisted the G5 leaders would demand a
"respectable and respectful relationship" with France. Kabore of
Burkina Faso has described Macron's recent insistences as "lacking in
tact".
Issifou said the summit would "launch an appeal for
international solidarity so that the Sahel and France are not alone in this
fight".
The Pau meeting was postponed from December after a
jihadist attack claimed the lives of 71 Niger soldiers. And last Thursday
another attack by jihadists left 89 Niger soldiers dead.
On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said
the summit would serve "to remobilise and adapt ourselves to the new
reality" of the jihadist onslaught, which analysts say appears to have
become bolder, more complex, and better armed.
Paris will also use the occasion to repeat its call on
other Western nations to help step up the fight.
Last year, only $300 of $400 million pledged by the
international community in cash and material support to the Sahel was
delivered, according to the French presidency.
NGOs on Friday urged that civilians caught in the crossfire
not be forgotten at Monday's talks.
"The military response in the Sahel is part of the
problem," said Maureen Magee of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
"Last year, military operations in Mali have pushed
more than 80,000 people to flee. Engagement in the Sahel must put the
protection of the populations at the heart of the response."
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