Macron Says Without French Intervention Terrorists Would Have Captured Mali

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that thanks to France's intervention in the Sahel region, the terrorists could not seize power in Mali

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2021) French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that thanks to France's intervention in the Sahel region, the terrorists could not seize power in Mali.

"Without France's intervention in the Sahel region, there would no longer be a government in Mali, I am telling you this very clearly," Macron told France Intel in an interview.

The president stressed that France's intervention was at the request of the Malian government and all member states of the Economic Community of West African States.

Macron is confident that even after the French army leaves the region, the terrorists will not be able to take over Mali.

"Our military presence must evolve because we are unable to ask our soldiers to replace the work of your states and especially of your state.

What we have started ... is a work which says: the state must return to it's justice, its education, its police everywhere, but especially in Mali and Burkina Faso," the president said, explaining his decision to withdraw the French troops from the region.

On September 26, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga accused France of abandonment after Macron announced in July a troop reduction in the Sahel region, including the end of the counterterrorist Operation Barkhane.

On the following day, a spokesperson from the French Foreign Ministry said that France was not abandoning Mali and added that France will remain committed to supporting Mali and other G5 Sahel states in their fight against terrorism.