Defence News
French troops leave Mali’s Timbuktu after eight years
French troops will leave Timbuktu on Tuesday in what is a major drawdown nine years deployment in the sahelian nation.
It was there that then French president Francois Hollande formally declared the start of France’s military intervention, in February 2013, designed to root out jihadist insurgents.
Paris has since deployed around 5,100 troops across the Sahel region, which includes Mali, helping to support local governments and their forces fight an ever-growing Islamist insurgency that has left thousands dead.
But after leaving the Kidal and Tessal bases in north Mali, French troops are now packing up in Timbuktu, the last of three bases in the far north of the country.