On May 15, Mali’s ruling junta announced that the country would withdraw from
the G5 Sahel, a West African security force. Junta officials claimed the





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Mali Withdraws From G5 Sahel Task Force, Risks Further Destabilizing Region

 

(New York, N.Y.) – On May 15, Mali’s ruling junta announced that the country
would withdraw from theG5 Sahel <[link removed]>, a West African
security force. Junta officials claimed the decision was due to the G5’s lack
of progress in defeatingal-Qaeda
<[link removed]> and ISIS
<[link removed]>. U.N. Assistant
Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobeecriticized
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Mali’s pullout as “unfortunate and regrettable” and highlighted that this “is
most certainly a step back for the Sahel.”

 

Mali has experienced rising ethnic and terrorist-backed violence in recent
years with civilians bearing the brunt of the casualties. In 2021, 684
civilians were reportedly killed and hundreds more were wounded due to
extremist violence. According toU.S. government estimates
<[link removed]>,
“fatalities from militant Islamist violence against civilians in the first
quarter of 2022 were greater than in any previous calendar year” and violence
by Islamist groups “is on track to increase by 70 percent in 2022.”

 

“Terrorist groups in the Sahel region continue to grow at an unprecedented
rate. This is largely due to the declining security in the region, creating an
environment for the terrorist organizations to transform the area into an
active terrorist zone. Mali’s pullout of the G5 Sahel force will have a
worsening effect on these conditions and allow al-Qaeda and ISIS as well as
their affiliates to gain even greater traction,” said Counter Extremism Project
(CEP) Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler
<[link removed]>.

 

Despite the increase in terrorist violence in Mali, on January 26, 2020, the
Pentagon announced it was considering reducing the number of U.S. troops in
Mali. Additionally, in June 2021, France announced that it would end Operation
Barkane—its seven-year anti-terror mission in Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger,
and Mauritania. Of the 5,000 French troops currently in Mali, that number is
expected to fall to 2,500 or 3,000 by 2023.

 

Relations between France and Mali have deteriorated in recent years given the
Malian regime’s reluctance to transition to civilian rule. Tensions were
further increased when Malian officials courted Russian mercenaries from the
Wagner Group to join their fight to combat the al-Qaeda-affiliated coalition
Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), which also includes fighters from
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
<[link removed]> (AQIM).
The move has been met with international concern, as theEU-sanctioned
<[link removed]>
Wagner Group has been accused of destabilizing regional conflicts in Ukraine,
Syria, Libya, Central African Republic, and the Sahel.

 

To read CEP’s resource Mali: Extremism and Terrorism, please click here
<[link removed]>.

 

To read CEP’s resource Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), please click
here <[link removed]>.

 

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