French troops travel to Mali's crossroads region as part of anti-jihad campaign

Under the scorching sun, diggers and earthmovers are working hard on a new French military base in east-central Mali, where troops will start operating near the border with Burkina Faso.

The base will be the very last post of Operation Barkhane, the 4,500-strong French anti-jihadist force headquartered in Chad, which also operates in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

In Mali itself, French forces have spent the last 18 months fighting mainly ISGI (Islamic State of the Sahel) jihadists in the Liptako region (north-east) bordering Niger.

But now, the force is spreading westward in the central region of Gourma – a crossroads region bordering the border between Mali and Burkina.

Here, a sea of ​​tents and containers delimits the site of the new base located just outside the town of Gossi.

"This will be the main base of operations in the Gourma region, where the threat is active," said the base commander, who spoke on condition of being identified by his first name, Francois.

"Before, we were coming and going in the area, but now we are planting the flag here and staying," said another high-ranking officer who requested anonymity.

Construction is well underway and drivers have climbed into bullet-proof vests at temperatures around 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius).

Since mid-January, troops have been hard at work on the site and are drilling for water. For the moment, supplies are imported from Gao and, when the water tanks are empty, they use bottled water for the shower.

Located about 150 kilometers southwest of Gao, the new outpost will be on a former United Nations peacekeeping base and will accommodate several hundred French soldiers.

Sanctuary for jihadists

Gourma, a vast territory extending south of the Niger River, straddles part of the regions of Gao, Timbuktu and Mopti.

In recent weeks, Malian troops have suffered heavy losses in Gourma. This week, a French military doctor was killed by the explosion of his armored vehicle.

The ISGS and other jihadist ghosts operate in the region, including a particularly active group called "Gourma Katiba", which is linked to GSIM, the main regional alliance supporting al-Qaeda.

Gourma Katiba's leader, Al-Mansour Ag Alkbadim, was killed in November during a French raid.

Another powerful group, Ansarul Islam, is located in southern Gourma, along the border with Burkina Faso.

Its militants would be responsible for a series of attacks in northern Burkina that began in 2015.

The violence has spread in the east of the country in a wave of bloodshed that the authorities do not seem able to put an end to.

"When you're at Gourma, you can reach any place in the region, and you can even provide support to Burkina if necessary," Blachon told AFP and RFI at a news conference. ;an interview.

Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad are linked by an alliance supported by France, the G5 Sahel, to fight against jihadism south of the Sahara.

Interethnic complications

Al-Qaeda-linked extremists took control of the vast desert of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out during a military operation led by France that began in January 2013.

But vast areas are still plagued by lawlessness, despite a peace agreement reached in 2015 with some armed groups seeking to permanently curb the jihadist threat.

Since then, the jihadist threat has shifted from the north to the more densely populated center of the country, where it has fueled the flames of local ethnic conflict that has been going on for years.

The Malian government announced Wednesday that 450 civilians and 150 soldiers – Malians and foreigners – were killed in the first three months of this year alone.

On March 23, more than 160 people belonging to a community of Peul herders were mbadacred in Ogossogou, a village located near the Burkinabe border, by militia suspected of belonging to the rival Dogon ethnic group. .

Blachon admits that this inter-ethnic violence has complicated Barkhane's work to root out jihadists.

"Intercommunal violence is the real threat and risk for this country, it is extremely difficult to know where a particular conflict erupted and then trigger a series of retaliatory attacks," he said. .

"This is the great fear of an armed force, be it the UN peacekeepers or the national army. We know how difficult it is to get out of this spiral. We must therefore act in such a way as not to exacerbate the problem. "

The aim was to avoid favoring one group over another, he said.

"It's important not to fall into that trap, but the work of a force like Barkhane is to neutralize the real terrorists while supporting the development community. which does not mean supporting a particular ethnic group or community. "