NOUAKCHOTT (Sputnik) – Niger’s President-elect Mohamed Bazoum on Monday called the French-led operation to defeat jihadists in Africa’s Sahel region the coalition’s relative failure, arguing that a drawdown would not change the balance of power.
“We would have liked to see better results from our cooperation with the French army than what we have. This relative failure is our shared failure, a failure of the entire coalition,” he told RFI radio and France 24.
This comes more than a week after jihadists killed at least 137 villagers in an attack in western Niger.
The Western African nation, situated in the Sahel, is plunged into a security crisis over Islamic insurgency and related terrorist activities. Since 2014, Paris has been heading a 5,000-strong Operation Barkhane against the jihadist threat to the former francophone colonies of Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Burkina Faso. The mission comprises the military forces of France and the armies of the G5 Sahel bloc that includes Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, and Mauritania.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
