An attack on a military base in Northern Mali on April 6 has killed at least 25 Malien soldiers. In response eight ‘assailants’, presumed Al-Qaeda affiliates, were ‘neutralised’. This newest loss in the French and United Nations backed campaign comes on the heels of the first cases of Covid-19 amongst French soldiers serving in operation Barkhane. Four soldiers tested positive for the novel Coronavirus on April 2nd, three of which were sent back to France while one is quarantined in place. Other soldiers have shown symptoms and await testing. The onslaught of the virus could be a major setback in France’s lengthy campaign which has had a catastrophic year thus far. […]
Many in Burkina Faso see the French insurgency as a neo-colonial strategy to protect first and foremost the mining industry interests of the French elite, while the safety of the people comes secondary, if at all. This anti-French sentiment is shared by their neighbors in Mali where large protests in January offered a snapshot of the general distrust in the French military presence and the puppet master of West African politics, the French president and champion of the neo-liberal expansionist cause: Emmanuel Macron. Läs artikel
Läs också kommentar till det svenska deltagandet i den franskledda Takuba-insatsen.