Mali

French President Emmanuel Macron and Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou agreed on Thursday to propose a postponement to early 2020 of a meeting of Sahelian country leaders due to take place in France this month, the French presidency said. The decision to postpone the event, which was to address French military presence in the region as well as the fight against so-called jihadist organizations, follows an attack on a remote military camp in Niger.

The G5 Sahel countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – are confronted with multiple challenges. This report uses the International Futures forecasting system to analyse the likely development trajectory of these five countries to 2040 in agriculture, demographics, infrastructure, governance and education. It compares these prospects with the combined impact of a positive Desert Flower scenario and a dystopian Sahelistan scenario and presents recommendations for the future.

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday demanded West African leaders dismiss growing anti-French sentiment across the region if they wanted France's military to continue its operations against Islamist militants.

Security in Mali has become critical, with unprecedented incidents of communal violence and increasingly more deadly terror attacks, reported a UN human rights expert on Monday, following a 10-day visit to the country.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he has ordered his military to assess its operations against Islamist militants in West Africa and all options are open, after 13 soldiers died during a combat mission this week.

Thirteen French troops were killed in a midair collision between two helicopters in Mali on Monday night as they fought Islamic militants in the west African country.

[…] Since 2016, however, MINUSMA’s effectiveness in terms of stabilization and the protection of civilians (PoC) has decreased. … Currently, MINUSMA is at a crossroads. It needs time to succeed, but this is also valuable time that Mali does not have at the moment, during which civilians are dying in attacks, and major mission funders like the United States are losing interest in supporting a costly UN peace operation that is not able to deliver quick results.

France's minister of the armed forces takes aim at Saudi Arabia for failing to provide 100 million euros to G5 Sahel force fighting Islamist militants.

Islamic State’s West African affiliate claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack on an army patrol in northern Mali that killed 30 soldiers. … The attack was the third major strike against Malian forces in the last two months by jihadist groups.

Forces from the France-led Operation Barkhane and its partner forces in the Sahel region carried out an ‘unprecedented’ 17-day operation against ‘armed terrorist groups’ in Burkina Faso and Mali. … More than 1,400 soldiers from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and France took part in the operation, and more than half of those involved were from partner forces.