The end of Operation Barkhane does not mean the withdrawal of French military bases from the Sahel. Paris wants to change its strategy "to continue to occupy us illegally and exploit our resources," Maïkoul Zodi, a Nigerien activist and local coordinator of the Tournons La Page movement, told Sputnik.
"French troops will continue to stay in the Sahel but with a new name or else [...] they will be transferred to the multinational Takuba task force. We expect nothing from Macron's announced exit. France will not leave the Sahel because it is playing for its survival as a power among the great nations," Zodi said.
He called for fighting “these imperialist and occult forces that bereave our people every day and plunder our resources.”
‘Logic of War of Influence’
According to Dr. Daouda Kinda, a Malian expert on international security, Emmanuel Macron's remarks on the termination of the operation and a new French strategy in Africa "are part of a logic of war of influence," which has recently been accentuated by the Ukraine crisis.
"Now, we should, first of all, take a look at the withdrawal of forces from Operation Barkhane, which has been a failure in all respects, it should be said, and this is not to excuse the responsibility of the local armies in terms of their duty to secure the territories. But Barkhane has made many, many mistakes and consecutive blunders," said Mr. Kinda.
One of them is that the operation is too focused on the military aspect, he believes. "They forgot the economic aspect, the socio-economic development of the areas that are affected by terrorism (...). Barkhane was too focused and too monopolized by France. We remember that it was the French president who called the presidents of the Sahel to give them guidance," the Malian expert said.
According to him, this policy has been badly perceived by public opinion in the Sahel countries, particularly in Mali.