France24, Jan. 15, 2017 – At the 27th Africa-France Summit in Bamako on Saturday, French President François Hollande reaffirmed his commitment to peace in Mali as more than 30 African leaders gathered to discuss security issues and ensuring peaceful transitions of power.
Leaders from across the continent gathered in the Malian capital Bamako to discuss cross-border jihad, governance challenges and Africa’s role in the European migrant crisis.
On January 11, 2013, France launched a military operation to halt an offensive by al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups that had taken over much of northern Mali and threatened to sweep through the capital.
“France will always remain at Mali’s side until the peace process is completed until the Malian state can have its authority respected throughout Malian territory,” Hollande said as the summit opened on Saturday.
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was quick to praise Hollande’s commitment. “Of all the French heads of state, François Hollande is the one whose dealings with Africa have been the most sincere and the most loyal,” he said.
Hollande went on to hail the fact that “terrorists no longer control any [Malian] territory, democracy has returned and elections have taken place”. But Mali nevertheless remains one of the world’s most fragile states.
In a bid to help crush the jihadist threat, France has trained more than 20,000 African soldiers every year since 2013, according to a French diplomatic source. By 2020, the number of French-trained troops is expected to reach 25,000 a year. The training aims to minimize the need for future military interventions in African conflicts, such as those launched in Mali and the Central African Republic in 2013.
However, the situation in key nations such as Mali remains far from stable, where France’s continued military presence is not welcomed by all.
Overshadowing the summit was an admission by the French defense ministry on Friday that French soldiers deployed to northern Mali had killed a child jihadist during a counter-terror operation in November.
According to the French-language magazine Jeune Afrique (Young Africa), the victim was buried in secret by the soldiers.