President Emmanuel Macron of France on Sunday promised strong support for a new multinational military force to combat extremists in parts of West Africa, saying the “terrorists, thugs and assassins” needed to be eradicated, like reported by nytimes.com.
Meeting in Mali with leaders from the five countries that make up the Sahel region, Mr. Macron said France would provide military support for antiterrorism operations and 70 tactical vehicles, communications, and operational and protective equipment.
The 5,000-strong force will be deployed by September, Mr. Macron said at a news conference in the Malian capital, Bamako, by which time the force’s funding is expected to be finalized.
The leaders of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad — the countries of the Sahel region known as the G5 — must clarify their roles and contributions for the force to attract more support from outside countries, Mr. Macron added. “We cannot hide behind words, and must take actions,” he said.
The new antiterrorism force will operate in the region along with 12,000 United Nations peacekeepers in Mali, one of the most dangerous peacekeeping missions in the world, and an existing French force of 5,000, the country’s largest overseas mission. The new force is not meant to replace those missions, Mr. Macron said. “It’s a force that fights against terrorism, and the trafficking of drugs and humans.”
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali said that each of the Sahel countries would contribute 10 million euros, or $11 million, toward the force’s €423 million ($480 million) budget.
The European Union has already pledged about €50 million ($57 million) in support of the Sahel force. In June, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution endorsing the new force. The United Nations, however, will not contribute financially.
The meeting with Mr. Macron and the Sahel leaders on Sunday came a day after the recently formed extremist group Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, based in Mali, released a video showing six foreign hostages seized in the region in recent years. The video claimed that “no genuine negotiations have begun to rescue your children.”
Mr. Macron said he welcomed the first sign of life for several months from the French hostage in the video, Sophie Petronin. “They are terrorists, thugs and assassins,” Mr. Macron said of the extremists. “And we will put all of our energies into eradicating them.”
The threat in the region has been growing for years. A French-led intervention drove out Islamic extremists from strongholds in northern Mali in 2013, but the extremists have continued targeting peacekeepers and other forces. In March, the extremist groups Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb declared that they had merged into Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen.
