Visit to soldiers deployed in the north and east of the country
Jean Castex will also go on Friday to meet the contingents positioned at Faya-Largeau (north), a toured oasis to Libya , then to Abéché (east), an important economic center and military lock not far from the Sudanese border. But the Prime Minister will in all likelihood provide little information on the future physiognomy of Barkhane , currently composed of 5. 44 men but arrived at a new strategic turning point.
“Clear orientations”, according to Matignon, are expected during a start vertex 2020 in N’Djaména bringing together France and its G5 Sahel partners (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad ) engaged in the fight against terrorism.
France relies on the rise of local forces
This meeting will mark the first anniversary of the Pau summit which had refocused the objectives on the area known as the “three frontiers s ”( Mali , Niger, Burkina Faso), with several tactical successes in particular against the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS). But France, which refuses to speak of “disengagement”, also relies on the rise in power of local forces and could in this sense recall the 310 reinforcements deployed this year.
Thus, the deployment of a new Chadian battalion in the zone of the three borders, promised a year ago but which faces delays while the country is also facing