Thread by @AFP

#BREAKING France, allies say to continue 'joint action against terrorism' in Africa's Sahel

#UPDATE France and allies in Barkhane anti-jihadist operation in Mali announce "coordinated withdrawal" of their forces due to "obstructions" by ruling military junta.

France and allies vow to pursue "joint action against terrorism in the Sahel region, including in Niger"

#BREAKING Al-Qaeda, Islamic State targeting Sahel as 'priority for strategy of expansion': Macron

#UPDATE Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have made the Sahel region of West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea nations "a priority for their strategy of expansion," French President Emmanuel Macron says, explaining an ongoing French and EU military presence in the region

#BREAKING Macron denies French mission in Mali ending in failure

#UPDATE French President says attitudes of Mali's ruling junta has forced France to pull out and denies its almost decade-long deployment had ended in failure.

"We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de-facto authorities whose strategy and hidden aims we do not share"

#BREAKING French pullout from Mali 'bound to impact' UN peacekeepers: UN

#UPDATE France's planned military withdrawal from Mali is "bound to impact" the UN's peacekeeping mission in the troubled Sahel state, the United Nations said on Thursday

#UPDATE France has announced it is withdrawing troops from Mali due to a breakdown in relations with the country's ruling junta, after nearly 10 years of fighting a jihadist insurgency
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