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WORLD NEWS Friday 8 January 2021
France seeks strategy change to reduce troops in West Africa

By SYLVIE CORBET the situation a year after a
Associated Press meeting in the French town
PARIS (AP) — As it pays trib- of Pau led to France send-
ute Thursday to its soldiers ing 600 additional troops
killed in Mali and faces and concentrating military
questions over a deadly air- efforts along the porous
strike, France is considering border separating Mali,
changing its military strat- Niger and Burkina Faso.
egy against Islamic extrem- Parly stressed that "any re-
ists in Africa's Sahel region inforcement, by definition,
— and a possible partial is temporary."
troop pullout. French troops in 2020
President Emmanuel Ma- "achieved important suc-
cron is expected to an- cesses, by neutralizing sev-
nounce a timeframe for eral top leaders of terrorist
the evolution of France's groups and by attacking
largest international military their logistical network to
operation at a summit in disorganize them," she
Chad's capital N'Djamena added.
next month. Last June, Abdelmalek
On Thursday afternoon, an Droukdel, the leader of
elaborate ceremony will al-Qaida's North Africa af-
be held on the Alexandre filiate, was killed in Mali by
III bridge in central Paris to The hearse convoy of late French forces soldiers , who were killed in Mali when an improvised ex- French forces who had
pay homage to two sol- plosive device hit their armored vehicle last week, rides on his way to the Invalides for a national been hunting him in the Sa-
diers killed in Mali by an tribute, in Paris, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. hel for years. AQIM named
improvised explosive de- Associated Press a new leader in November.
vice that hit their armored A top official at the French
vehicle on Saturday. Three present in Mali since 2013 Attitudes toward the French is waning: Last weekend presidency said the death
other French soldiers died when they intervened to mission are mixed. militants staged attacks on of French soldiers will not
just five days earlier in simi- force Islamic extremist reb- "French troops could not two villages in Niger near its in itself be the basis for a
lar circumstances. els from power. The opera- stay forever ... so many and border with Mali, killing at strategy change. Speak-
France's operation in Mali is tion, called Barkhane, was (with) such mixed results. In least 100 people. ing anonymously in accor-
also shadowed by unclear then expanded to include a way, this is a good thing, Siaka Coulibaly, an analyst dance with the presiden-
circumstances surround- Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso because it will push each with Burkina Faso's Center cy's customary practices,
ing an airstrike that killed at and Mauritania to improve country to take more re- for Public Policy Monitor- he added that the upcom-
least 20 people in a village security and stability in the sponsibility," and collabo- ing by Citizens, warned of a ing strategic decisions will
where witnesses said Islam- broader Sahel region. rate better, said Chryso- "severe degradation of se- be based on the results in
ic extremists had confront- Defense Minister Florence gone Zougmore, president curity" if the French leave, the previous year and on
ed a wedding party. The Parly said France will "very of the Burkinabe Move- because African armies Sahel countries' demands.
French military said those likely" reduce its 5,100 ment for Human Rights, a aren't ready to fill the void. The intentions of newly-
killed were members of a troops in the Sahel region, civil society group in Burki- "We fear the worst for coun- elected President Joe
"terrorist armed group" with in an interview to Le Pa- na Faso. tries in the Sahel if foreign Biden regarding U.S. troops
no connection to a wed- risien newspaper earlier this The discussion, though, troops ever leave," he said. in Africa will also be a
ding. week. No specific figures comes amid few signs that Next month's N'Djamena key factor in determining
French troops have been have been released. Islamic extremist violence summit is set to reassess France's next steps.q
Iraq issues arrest warrant for Trump over Soleimani killing

BAGHDAD (AP) — An arrest Forces, an umbrella group ants from the family of
warrant was issued Thurs- composed of an array Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,"
day for outgoing President of militias, including Iran- according to a statement
Donald Trump in connec- backed groups, formed from the Supreme Judicial
tion with the killing of an to fight the Islamic State Council. The investigation
Iranian general and a pow- group. into the killings is ongoing,
erful Iraqi militia leader last Soleimani headed the ex- the court said.
year, Iraq's judiciary said. peditionary Quds force of The killings sparked a dip-
The warrant was issued by Iran's Revolutionary Guard lomatic crisis and strained
a judge in Baghdad's inves- Corps. U.S.-Iraq ties, drawing the
tigative court tasked with The arrest warrant was for ire of Shiite political law-
probing the Washington- a charge of premeditated makers who passed a
directed drone strike that murder, which carries the non-binding resolution to
killed Gen. Qassim Solei- death penalty on convic- pressure the government
mani and Abu Mahdi al- tion. It is unlikely to be car- to oust foreign troops from In this Jan. 17, 2020 file photo, released by the official website of
Muhandis, the court's me- ried out but symbolic in the the country. Iran-backed the office of the Iranian supreme leader, worshippers chant slo-
dia office said. They were waning days of Trump's groups have since stepped gans during Friday prayers ceremony, as a banner show Iranian
killed outside the capital's presidency. up attacks against the Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, left, and Iraqi
airport last January. The decision to issue the American presence in Iraq, Shiite senior militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who
were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone attack on Jan. 3, and a banner
Al-Muhandis was the depu- warrant "was made after leading to threats by Wash- which reads in Persian: "Death To America, "at Imam Khomeini
ty leader of the state-sanc- the judge recorded the ington to shutter its Bagh- Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran.
tioned Popular Mobilization statements of the claim- dad diplomatic mission.q Associated Press