"Terrorist" attack in Mali against French soldiers during the AU summit in Mauritania

Bamako – French soldiers of Operation Barkhane were targeted on Sunday by a "terrorist" attack in Gao, Mali, which left four dead and around 20 wounded civilians in the midst of the African Union summit (AU ) in neighboring Mauritania, which must also address security issues.
  

According to the Malian authorities quoting a provisional badessment of hospital source, this attack left four dead and 23 wounded among civilians.

In Paris, the French army staff announced Sunday night that four French soldiers of the Barkhane force were wounded in the attack. There were " four wounded at Barkhane " and at least two deaths and about 20 wounded among civilians, said the staff at AFP.

" Terrorism has again loosely struck in Mali ". " Civilians lost their lives and French soldiers are wounded ," tweeted the French Minister of Armies, Florence Parly.

According to a Western military source, " French soldiers of the Barkhane force (4,000 men, Ed) have fallen this Sunday in an ambush by terrorists at the exit which leads to the town of Bourem ".

" This is a patrol of the operation Barkhane who was targeted by a car bomb led by a kamikaze (…) of Gao ," said a resident of the city. " Very vigilant, an armored road barred him and the suicide bomber blew himself up ," said Fatouma Wangara.

" The vehicle stuffed with explosives did a lot of damage ," according to a hospital source in Gao, the main city of northern Mali.

On the other hand, a vehicle of the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad, (MSA, from the former Tuareg-dominated rebellion) " jumped on a mine (Sunday) in the village of Talataye (northern Mali) .The death toll is four dead and three wounded "wrote the MSA on its Facebook page.

Present on the border between Mali and Niger, the GATIA (Tuareg Imghad self-defense group and allies, pro-Bamako) and the MSA participate in security operations alongside the Barkhane force and the army Malian.

These attacks underscore the fragile security situation in Mali, which is preparing for a presidential election on July 29.

– At the height of the AU –

It took place while the AU summit entered the heat of the debate Sunday in Nouakchott, two days after a suicide attack perpetrated Friday in Sévaré, in the center of Mali, against the G5 Sahel Joint Force HQ launched in 2017.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet on Monday in Nouakchott, on the sidelines of the AU summit, his counterparts from G5 Sahel, an organization Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

At the end of the summit, Mr. Macron will discuss with his counterparts in G5 Sahel the slow rise in power of the joint force set up by this regional organization to fight the jihadists.

France, which is conducting Operation Barkhane in the region, supports this project, seeing it as a possible model for the African states to take charge of their own security.

But its implementation is currently marked by funding problems and accusations of human rights violations by troops of the joint force, based in Mali.

– " Rifts " in security –

For Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Friday's attack on G5 Sahel Force HQ demonstrates that he " There are still a lot of loopholes "in the security that must be" corrected ". The attack, which had killed three, including two soldiers of the G5 Sahel force, " touches the heart of our security system, the staff (of the joint G5 Sahel force) installed (in Sévaré) This is a message sent by the terrorists at this precise moment, when we organize ourselves to stabilize, secure our region ".

The Support Group for Islam and Muslims, the main jihadist alliance of the Sahel, linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack on Sévaré.

Northern Mali had fallen in March-April 2012 under the guise of jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda.

These groups were largely driven out following the launch in January 2013 of a French military intervention.

But entire areas are beyond the control of the Malian, French and international forces, regularly targeted by deadly attacks, despite the signing in May-June 2015 of a peace agreement, supposed to isolate definitively the jihadists, whose application accumulates delays.