France reiterates calls for EU to step up participation in Sahel-Sahara operations

Ahmed Adel

The Sahel-Sahara region has currently become France’s top priorities after an incident that took the life of French soldiers chasing jihadists in northern Mali.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the death of 13 soldiers killed in a helicopter collision while battling jihadists in Mali.

It was the biggest single-day loss for the French military in nearly four decades.

The Sahel region faces a number of pressing challenges such as violent extremism, poverty, frequent food and nutrition crises, irregular migration and related crimes such as human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Macron has promised a thorough review of the Barkhane operation in the wake of the helicopter accident, vowing that “all options are on the table”.

He also reiterated his call last week for EU allies to step up their participation in the West Africa operation after years of failing to secure significant support.

For her part, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has said Germany should consider expanding its troop mandate in Africa’s Sahel region.

“We will need to consider and decide whether we want to ensure stability on the ground out of our own interests, and whether the Bundeswehr needs a more robust training mandate alongside our allies,” she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

Kramp-Karrenbauer noted that the Sahel region has become a “major hub for terrorism, organized crime, migration and human trafficking.”

Germany cannot allow itself to “duck away” from responsibility in the region, she said, warning that doing so could have serious security consequences.

The Defense Ministry recently revealed that it twice turned down requests from France to dispatch special forces to Mali to tackle the dangerous security situation.

In the same report, the ministry noted that “jihadist groups active in the region are enjoying largely unfettered freedom of movement” and that despite the presence of international troops, Mali’s security forces are often overwhelmed.

After meeting with presidents of the G5 Sahel states, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany is providing a large financial contribution to achieving security and stability in the region.

Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Chad together make up the G5 Sahel group. The Sahel is the name given to a belt that spans the African continent south of the Sahara Desert.

Germany has realigned the priorities of its development cooperation, explained Merkel. “Between 2017 and 2020 alone, we will be spending 1.7 billion euros on the Sahel states and their development.”

Merkel called for international support, and declared that it is important to take a joined-up approach to security and development policy.

The United Nations Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is among the UN’s largest military missions with 11,000 soldiers and more than 1,500 police officers and civilians stationed in Mali. Germany is participating with around 950 soldiers. The aim is to support ceasefire agreements and trust-building measures in the region.

The EU has been supporting a military training mission, launched in 2013 in Mali. It advises the Malian authorities on the restructuring of the armed forces, through the training of battalions and support for defense reform. It also provides technical support to the G5 Joint Force.

The desert of the Sahel region is a safe passage that militants use to confront local and foreign authorities and create security chaos in the region, which is of strategic importance to US national security and other countries.

The Sahel and the African Sahara region is facing a growing terrorist threat and organized crime, as armed groups carry out bloody operations along the coast of these countries.

Daesh has been one of the terrorist groups that seek to spread in the region, especially since its defeat in Syria and Iraq, not to mention that its former leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, in April 2019 announced the establishment of the Daesh West Africa branch.

Al-Qaeda also has strong presence in the region, through its Saharan branch; it managed in 2017, along with Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front, and Al-Mourabitoun to found one of its biggest alliances, namely Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen group.