France says Barkhane mission troops leave Mali

The French military on Monday confirmed that its last soldier with the Barkhane anti-terror mission in Mali had left the West African country. 

Paris had announced it would withdraw its forces from Mali around six months ago after heightened tensions with Bamako's military leaders, as well as recent protests against the mission. 

"Today at 1300 Paris time (1100 GMT) the final contingent of the Barkhane force still on Malian territory crossed the border between Mali and Niger," the statement said.

"France remains engaged in Sahel, in the Gulf of Guinea and the Lake Chad region with all partners committed to stability and to the fight against terrorism," it added.

What is Operation Barkhane? 

The Barkhane mission started after France deployed soldiers to the region in 2013 in a bid to stop jihadists carving out a foothold there.

But the troops' presence seemed to fail to put a stop to a wave of deadly terror attacks as Paris struggled to get more Western allies to contribute to the force. 

Last year, when Mali's Colonel Assimi Goita carried out his second coup, France's President Emmanuel Macron insisted that he would pull back French forces if civilian rule was not restored in the West African nation. 

But as the security situation deteriorated, anger against the mission grew, with Malians staging protests to demand an end to French presence in the country. 

Mali's tensions with the West

France is also withdrawing from the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA, which the UN Security Council had extended to 2023.

MINUSMA's fate is also unclear after Mali suspended troop rotations by the peacekeeping mission. 

Earlier this month, Germany announced that it would suspend its participation in MINUSMA. 

Meanwhile, Goita has strengthened Mali's ties with Russia, most notably with Mali's suspected cooperation with Russian mercenaries from the infamous Wagner Group.

Mali is still struggling to stem an Islamist insurgency that took root after a 2012 uprising. Terrorist attacks have spread to neighboring  countries, killing thousands and displacing millions across West Africa's Sahel region.

No plans for evacuation

Germany's Defense Ministry said that it employs 59 local recruits in Mali to support its forces.

The ministry has not discussed plans to evacuate these forces.

"We are not assuming at the moment that there is an overriding threat, a general threat," a Defense Ministry spokesperson said.

fb,sdi/wmr (AFP, epd)