[News] Le Point: We lost the war in Mali..Let's look for a way out of its trap

[Mr.Bada]

Nine years after France succeeded in preventing the jihadists from reaching the Malian capital, Bamako, it now seems clear that Paris lost this war strategically and politically, so how can it get rid of this trap? With this introduction, writer Nicolas Bavarez began an editorial for the French magazine Le Point, reminding at the beginning of the words of the realpolitik theorist Niccol Machiavelli that "we declare war when we want, and end it when we can."https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2022/2/3/لوبوان-خسرنا-الحرب-في-مالي-فلنبحث-عن

Based on this rule, Bavarez believes that France now has no choice but to get out as quickly as possible from the trap in which it is now in Mali, as it is caught in the crossfire of the ruling military council, the local po[CENSORED]tion and jihadist groups, "All of them are united today in hatred." our country,” he said. Although France maintains a military superiority in the Sahel region, according to Bavarez, and if it has achieved remarkable successes against jihadist movements, it has lost strategically and politically.This loss, according to the author, is manifested in Paris’s failure on the ground to prevent jihadist movements from extending their operations to the Gulf of Guinea, from the Ivory Coast to northern Benin, and was not able to prevent the growth of anti-French sentiment among the angry peoples due to the accumulation of victims and refugees. Bavarez explained that the situation in Mali suddenly changed, and it became impossible to "continue our military participation", as a series of coups led to the seizure of power by the junta led by Colonel Gueta, who refused to organize the elections scheduled for this February and delayed them for another 5 years on the least.Guetta accompanied that decision by calling for a review of the defense agreements signed between Paris and Bamako on July 16, 2014. He also decided to restrict the air movements necessary to secure the logistical services needed by the French and European forces, not to mention his invitation to the Russian Wagner mercenaries who are now in charge of securing the capital, Bamako, according to Bavarez. .The writer pointed out that the tensions between Paris and Bamako reached a breaking point after the military council’s decision to expel the French ambassador on January 31, and the misleading Russian propaganda pushed the Malians into something like “hostile obsession with France, which was reflected in the demonstrations organized to prevent supply our bases,” he said. Simultaneously, the writer says, the regional and international environment has become more turbulent and violent and has become unfavorable to France, especially after the jihadist pressure caused a series of coups that transformed the Sahel countries into a region ruled by generals and colonels. The shocking shock of the cycle of violence, supports the confiscation of power by the young officers who seduce them with their nationalist and anti-colonial discourse.In parallel, the United States continues to withdraw, leaving room for China in economic terms, Russia in terms of military, and Turkey in terms of religion. In this unfavorable atmosphere, France had no choice but to withdraw from Mali. Today it finds itself completely isolated in the face of the authorities and po[CENSORED]tion loathing, the deteriorating regional environment, the growing success of the Russian model of unbridled force and predation, the disengagement of European partners such as Sweden from Sahel operations, and Denmark's withdrawal from the Takoba force in the face of continued provocations from the junta. The writer concluded with more urging to get out of the financial trap, stressing that the decision is now more urgent than ever in light of the increasing direct threats on the European continent,Coming from powers seeking to build their own spheres of influence through blackmail and force.