We are imminently expecting a press conference with French President Macron and EU Council President Michel announcing a French pullout from #Mali.
The big question: will the EU #Takuba mission end as well? How will EU engagement continue? We're waiting for the details.
The #Mali pullout announcement is coming just hours before the start of the #EUAfrica Summit in Brussels.
Mali is not on the agenda, but given this morning's dramatic announcement, the implications of this withdrawal will certainly be discussed on the sidelines. #EUAUsummit
The press conference has just begun. Macron is taking quite a while to get to the actual withdrawal announcement.
Now official: France will end its nine-year mission in #Mali and move troops to neighboring Niger.
The EU #Takuba taskforce will agree by June plans to leave Mali and move elsewhere in the region (Niger and Gulf of Guinea).
The EU countries that were convinced to join this French effort in 2020, "expressed their desire to remain engaged in the region, in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures" the statement says.
"The center of any successful initiative must be the primacy of the armed forces of the region," says Ghana's president.
"What French and other European nations can bring as assistance has to be assistance to *our forces*"
He says all West Africa vulnerable to terrorist groups.
"It cannot be that, having been chased out of the Middle East and Afghanistans, the terrorists find permanent home in West Africa," says Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo.
European Council President @CharlesMichel insists that the EU countries will remain engaged in West Africa, but he's not very specific on how.
The reality is this will be a national decision for each of the EU countries that participated in #Takuba.
Asked by a reporter if this is a French failure that will embolden terrorists in the region, Macon says he refuses to accept this characterisation - the situation changed.
"France intervened in Mali to fight against terrorism and at the request of sovereign states in the region"
"The battle can only be won if the states themselves participate in the struggle," says Macron. "The government now in charge of #Mali is no longer setting the fight against terrorism as a priority"
"A foreign army cannot be used as a substitute for a national army."
Assalama Dawalack Sidi from @oxfamgb disagrees with Macron and says the #Mali withdrawal is "a terrible admission of failure".
"After almost ten years of military operations, nothing has really been resolved and much of the Central #Sahel continues to be plagued by conflict."
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The problem with the first option is you need to take the metro between train stations in Paris to switch, whereas in Lyon it's the same station
But...
🇪🇸Renfe & 🇫🇷SNCF don't have a ticketing agreement, so there's no way to get the preferred option as a combined ticket.
It doesn't show up on either website (Renfe won't even let you choose Brussels as a destination). Even 3rd party sites like SNCB Intl & Trainline can't show it
Tonight is the first semi-final for #Eurovision2023 in 🇬🇧Liverpool.
It's happening on the 25th anniversary of the 1998 contest hosted in 🇬🇧Birmingham, a transformative year that marks the boundary between the 'old' and 'new' Eurovision.
In 1998 Dana International became the first trans (and 1st openly LGBT) person to win the ESC.
Following the '98 contest it was decided to make two major rule changes: countries no longer had to sing in their national language and they weren't required to use an orchestra.
Those changes transformed what had become a stale archaic-looking contest in '90s into the explosion of spectacle in 2000s - helped also by the entry of enthusiastic Eastern European countries unable to participate during Communism.
The bookies have 🇸🇪Sweden as the favourite to win, followed by 🇫🇮Finland and 🇫🇷France.
But Sweden's odds have gotten worse since rehearsals started.
The singer, #Loreen, already won for 🇸🇪 in 2012 with Euphoria, a global hit hitting number one on the charts in 21 countries.
Among fans, I keep hearing "I predict Sweden will win but I don't want it to win". People like the song but think a 🇸🇪win is too predictable. 🇸🇪has dominated the contest for 2 decades.
If 🇸🇪win again they'll match Ireland's record for most wins - 7.
As the 🇬🇧#Coronation takes place in London, here's some fun facts about monarchies around the world.
I find Americans have the mistaken impression that Europe has many monarchies. In fact, excluding microstates, there are just 8 - and only 3 have been there more than 200 years.
There are actually more monarchies in Asia than in Europe.
The world has 16 kings, and only one queen (🇩🇰). Then there are 4 princes, 3 sultans, 2 emirs, 1 pope and 1 emperor (🇯🇵).
There are 4 types of monarchies remaining in Europe:
🇬🇧British
🇸🇪🇩🇰🇳🇴Scandinavian
🇳🇱🇧🇪🇱🇺Low Countries
🇪🇸Iberian
🇻🇦🇱🇮🇦🇩🇲🇨Microstates
This map shows when other European monarchies ended (most give the year of national independence from a imperial monarchy)
Surely the most important thing happening in🇬🇧this weekend😉
I'll be there covering. Here's the mother of all threads on the most important things to know for this year. 🧵1/23
The context: Despite what many think (Europeans' cultural cringe and all), #Eurovision is a big deal.
It's the most-watched annual live event in the world, with an average 200m viewers each year. That's more than the 🇺🇸Superbowl, Oscars & Grammys combined en.as.com/en/2022/03/14/…
Each year 40,000 visitors descend on the #Eurovision host city.
🇬🇧Liverpool is hosting this year. They've built a fan zone holding 15,000 people. There will be 9 shows over the week (televised: 2 semis & 1 final).