France to pull more than 2,000 troops from Africa’s Sahel region

President Emmanuel Macron tells G5 summit that France will reduce its force to 2,500 to 3,000 troops over the long term.

France will soon begin reshaping its military presence in the Sahel region of West Africa and will ultimately halve it, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Macron announced last month that he would start removing much of the 5,100-member Barkhane force in the Sahel after eight years of helping local forces stave off the threat from armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). “We will remain committed. But to remain committed is also to adapt,” Macron told a news conference on Friday after a virtual summit with leaders of Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania that make up the G5 Sahel region.