French President Francois Hollande and African leaders on Saturday pledged to join forces against terrorism at a Franco-African summit in the Malian capital Bamako.
Hollande announced joint action against trafficking in migrants, other people and drugs in order to prevent such networks from financing terrorism.
Hollande hailed Mali as an “example” that had shown the world that “there is no fatality in the face of terrorism.”
“Four years ago, Bamako was under the threat of a wide terrorist hold,” the French presidency quoted Hollande as saying.
“Today, terrorists no longer control any territory” in Mali, the president added.
More than 30 African leaders attended the summit, including Gambia’s president-elect Adama Barrow, whom the meeting backed in his attempts to be sworn in on Jan. 19, despite outgoing President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to give up power.
By holding the summit Hollande, who will not run for re-election in April, could showcase one of his biggest foreign policy successes: a French military intervention in January 2013 to turn back a jihadist and separatist insurgency in Mali’s north.
Insecurity nevertheless persists, and 10,000 Malian and French security forces were deployed to protect the summit.
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita praised Hollande as having been “sincere and loyal” towards Africa.
In addition to Mali, Hollande deployed French soldiers in the Central African Republic in December 2013 to stop massacres of civilians.
France has trained more than 21,500 African soldiers annually since 2013, according to the French government. Hollande said the number would be increased to 25,000 annually over the next three years.
The training is meant to reduce the need for French military interventions Africa.
But “French forces will stay in Mali and in Africa the time that is needed,” Hollande said.
France currently has about 4,000 soldiers in the Sahel region to fight terrorism. Before the summit, Hollande visited a base of French troops in the Malian city of Gao, the French presidency said on Twitter.
France’s concerns also include promoting development in Africa to stem migration to Europe.
Hollande announced that France would mobilize 23 billion euros (24.5 billion dollars) “for the development and growth in Africa” over the next five years. (dpa/NAN)
YAZ
