French President Emmanuel Macron is set to announce Thursday a partial withdrawal of French troops in the Sahel region of Africa, particularly in Mali, three sources told AFP.
The issue is set to be discussed at a defence council meeting ahead of a rare press conference by Macron later in the day, the sources said, asking not to be identified by name.
The French army declined to comment when contacted for comment by AFP.
France currently has 5,100 troops in the arid and volatile Sahel region, which stretches across Africa under the Sahara desert, encompassing Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger among others.
Macron has pushed for years for other Western states to share more of the burden of security operations that see French soldiers, backed by air power, intervening against jihadist groups alongside local forces.
He also faces pressure at home to end a deployment that began in 2013, while in the Sahel region itself the presence of French forces are rejected by some politicians and locals as a colonial throwback.
The announcement by Macron could force security in the Sahel up the agenda of a meeting of G7 leaders in Britain from Friday to Sunday, and a summit of the NATO military alliance in Brussels on June 14.
The Sahel is seen by many Western politicians and experts as a major risk because of the growing strength of jihadist groups there, as well as its role as a crossroads for arms and people-smuggling.
In February, Macron announced his intention to reduce French troop numbers over time, but said that a “massive withdrawal of men, which is a possibility I have considered, would be a mistake.”
At a virtual summit held at the time, the leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, known as the G5 countries, warned him against the dangers of a rapid pullout.
Since then, the veteran leader of Chad and close French ally, Idriss Deby Itno, has been killed, while Mali has suffered a second coup that has badly strained relations with Paris.
Last week, France suspended its joint military operations with Malian forces and stopped providing defence advice because of the ruling junta’s failure to give guarantees to hold free elections.
The French Sahel mission, known as Barkhane, is headquartered in the Chadian capital N’Djamena.
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