By Tim Cocks
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The insecurity plaguing West Africa is no longer France’s concern, its state minister for ties with Francophone countries and international partnerships said on Friday, a week after Paris handed over control of its last major military base in the region.
Thani Mohamed-Soilihi was speaking to journalists in a phone briefing in South Africa, where he was attending the Group of 20 top economies’ week of discussions on global development.
“I’m sorry to say, but it no longer concerns us,” Mohamed-Soilihi said, in answer to a Reuters question about the risk of insecurity posed by France’s military absence.
“That’s a shame, because everyone can see the difference between (now and then),” he added. “But we are looking for other ways to maintain ties (that are) not necessarily military.”
In the past three years, France has gradually dismantled its once-substantial military presence in its African ex-colonies, where for decades it had beaten back jihadist militants, arrested armed criminals, rescued several presidents from armed rebellions – and, in earlier times, backed coups itself.
Since 2022, France has pulled its soldiers out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, after military coups brought in leaders hostile to the French presence. Chad – a linchpin of the West’s war against jihadists in the Sahel – abruptly ended its security cooperation pact with its former colonial master in November.
More than a decade of insurgencies in the Sahel have displaced millions and engendered economic collapse, with violence pushing further south towards West Africa’s coast. The last two months have seen a surge in jihadist attacks, making them one of the deadliest periods of the Sahel’s history.
“We continue to deal with countries that so wish,” Mohamed-Soilihi said. “But … France won’t be able to respond to the security problems of countries with which there is no longer a relationship.”
(Reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
