French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on Tuesday at the G5 Sahel summit in N’Djamena on the need to strengthen both the fight against jihadist groups affiliated to Al Qaeda and the return of the state to the neglected territories of the region.
One year after the summit in Pau (south-western France), « we have managed to achieve real results in the area of the three borders », between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and the main target group, the organisation Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS), « has lost its grip and is suffering many losses, » the French president greeted during a video conference intervention from Paris.
« Beheading these organisations »
But al-Qaeda-affiliated organisations, the GSIM (Group in Support of Islam and Muslims) and Katiba Macina, « whose highest hierarchy continues to feed a jihadist agenda, » remain a threat in the Sahel, Macron said, promising « enhanced action » to « try to go and decapitate these organisations ».
« Giving people a perspective ».
Beyond the military aspect, the French president insisted on the need to « give a perspective to the people of the Sahel », calling for a « second leap: the return of security and services to the people » and calling for « a boost at the highest level of the State » to reinvest the neglected territories of the region. « It is through collective action and concrete action on the ground that we will succeed. France will continue to play its part because I know that everyone is mobilised here, » he concluded.
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