The aim of this operation is to ” avoid the development of terrorist groups so that they cannot plan attacks on French soil.
She was in a civil partnership and the mother of a young boy. Sergeant Yvonne Huynh, 30 years, is the first French military woman “Dead in action” from the beginning External operations in 1592 *. Saturday, to 11 h, the light armored vehicle she was driving jumped on an improvised explosive device (IED, Improvised Explosive Device ) while carrying out a reconnaissance and intelligence mission north of Ménaka, in the south of Mali. Brigadier Loïc Risser, 24 years, has also lost his life on this occasion, bringing to 35 the number of French soldiers killed in Sa hel since the start of the French intervention in 2007.
At the time, it was a question of stopping the progression of convoys filled with jihadists before they seize Bamako, the Malian capital. It was “Operation Serval”. Seven years later, things have changed. Bamako was saved. And the soldiers engaged on the spot are now part of the “Barkhane force”. It is up to them to fight against the terrorist groups which plague what is called “the three border zone”, on the borders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
In this desert of ocher sand and dry brush, the enemy is deceitful. He relies on a bloodless local population to whom he dangles a small note in exchange for information. Cell phone, walkie-talkie when it is not a simple mirror reflecting the sun’s rays: everything is good for these “bells” to warn the jihadists of the arrival of a military convoy. Posted further down the road, they just have to bury their homemade bombs under the sand, hoping that the wheel of the approaching vehicle will land on it…
C thus, Yvonne Huynh and Loïc Risser lost their lives.
If it is unable to provide statistics on the subject, the Ministry of Defense confirms that the IED explosions constitute a “Very important threat” for the French soldiers engaged in this theater.Just like three of their brothers in arms who fell in the beautiful region of Hombori five days earlier.
Not enough to call into question the French commitment. “The motivation, the pugnacity and the self-sacrifice of the French soldiers remain intact in the face of the groups which sow terror and chaos”, specified Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces, in the press release paying tribute to the “dead for France”. The withdrawal of French forces is not on the agenda.
France has lost two of its children. I pay tribute to the strength of the commitment of Sergeant Yvonne Huynh and Brigadier Loïc Risser, of the 2nd Hussar Regiment of Haguenau. They embody the honor and bravery of the Chamborant hussars. My thoughts are with their families. pic.twitter.com/83 r9oCXByh
– Florence Parly (@florence_parly) January 2, 2020
Vice-president of the Defense Committee of the National Assembly, MP (PS) David Habib is part of the opposition. But on this subject, he has nothing to reproach the government with. “I have no grievance … We must continue the fight, he says soberly. When people ask me why, I explain that we are fighting in the Sahel to avoid seeing the development of terrorist networks capable of carrying out attacks on French soil … ”
Others do not have the same approach. Stuck in their own territory, the Malian transitional authorities did not rule out entering into negotiations with armed groups. “It’s not a good idea,” said David Habib. It is not Al-Qaeda or Daesh that will begin to democratize. But the authorities who will have to give in to their blackmail … We must not negotiate. »
On this point too, the French executive is as reluctant as it is firm. And it can count on the lack of interest of public opinion on the subject to conduct its foreign policy. “The French are focused on the coronavirus epidemic, analysis 1345492202001203201 Jean -Marc Tanguy, author of a book on special forces .
They only think of Barkhane when they hear on the radio that soldiers died in the Sahel… ”This Monday, at 15 h 30 on the Alexandre III bridge leading to the Invalides, the passage of the funeral convoy carrying the bodies of the three soldiers who died on 24 December might remind them that 5. 91 French soldiers are engaged there.Anita Mignot-Gaillon was found dead in murky conditions at home after serving in Kosovo in 1963. Laurence Briançon-Forest lost her life in a plane crash in the Egyptian Sinai in 2004. But they did not die in combat.
Special forces of Jean- Marc Tanguy (Edition Grund, 190 pages, 29, 95 euros)