At least four Malian soldiers killed near the Mauritanian border

Published on : 07/04/2021 – 21:47

The Malian army announced the death of four of its soldiers on Sunday (July 4th) in an attack by an “armed terrorist group” against their convoy in the north-west of the country, near the Mauritanian border.

A FAMa administrative mission leaving for Léré (in the Timbuktu region) was attacked around 10:35 am (GMT and local), by an unidentified armed terrorist group, ”the army said on social networks.

The term “terrorist” commonly refers to jihadists.

“The said mission vigorously responded to this attack,” added the army, citing a “provisional death toll of four on the FAMa side”.

Since 2012 and the outbreak of independence and jihadist rebellions in the north, Mali has been plunged into a multifaceted turmoil that has left thousands dead, civilians and combatants, despite the support of the international community and the intervention of forces from the UN, African and French.

The separatists signed a peace agreement in 2015. But Mali remains plagued by the actions of groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization, intercommunal violence and trafficking of all kinds. The violence has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Resumption of joint operations with France

France announced on Friday that it would resume joint operations with the Malian armed forces, after suspending bilateral cooperation following a second coup d’état in Mali in May.

French President Emmanuel Macron also recently announced France’s gradual disengagement from the Sahel.

The Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, however assured Friday that this “transformation” does not “mean the departure from the Sahel”, nor that France would “slow down (its) counterterrorism operations” in the region.

Paris has not yet revealed the details of this new configuration, but the French anti-jihadist Barkhane force (5,100 men currently) will disappear in favor of a tightened device, focused on the fight against terrorism and support in the fight of local armies.

France is also counting heavily on the rise of the group of European special forces Takuba, created at the initiative of Paris to support Malian units in combat.

Takuba today brings together 600 men in Mali: half are French, the others Estonians, Czechs, Swedes and Italians. Romania has also committed to participate.

With AFP