A soldier pays tribute to his late commanders at Gao French Army base, after thirteen French soldiers were killed when their helicopters collided at low altitude as they swooped in to support ground forces engaged in combat with Islamist militants, in Gao, Mali November 27, 2019. Etat-major des armees/Handout via REUTERS
Reuters: As France mourns 13 soldiers, top general says full victory in Africa impossible
PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - France will never secure total victory over Islamist insurgents in West Africa, its top general said on Wednesday, after 13 soldiers died in a helicopter crash during a combat mission in Mali, France’s worst single loss of troops for 36 years.
General Francois Lecointre said France’s military role in the Sahel region south of the Sahara was “useful, good and necessary”, but it was hard to see the moment when the war would finally be won.
The remarks could embolden opponents of President Emmanuel Macron, in particular on the far-left, who are demanding France plots a way out of the conflict.
“We will never achieve a definitive victory,” Lecointre, chief of staff of the armed forces, told France Inter radio.
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WNU Editor: He is right. The region is massive and the resources that France and other countries have committed to fight Islamist insurgents is not even close to being adequate.
It means that whoever does not want to mobilize the resources.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they have around 4500 troops in the region. That's a pretty big deployment for a country like France.
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