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Dave Keating

Feb 17 • 11 tweets • 6 min read

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.

@CharlesMichel

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."

@oxfamgb

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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Dave Keating

@DaveKeating

Feb 19

@ZelenskyyUa

🇺🇦 President @ZelenskyyUa at #MSC:

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#Zelensky says he just visited the #Donbass separation line

"This is the line separating peace & war. The line with a kindergarten and the shell flying into it. Even with their elementary knowledge these children will know that alleging it was Ukraine that shelled is just silly"

#Zelensky:

"Now that the world is talking about the threat of a big war - it begs the question: is there anything left to pick up?"

"The security architecture of Europe and beyond is almost destroyed. It's too late now to talk about fixing it, it's high time for a new one."

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Dave Keating

@DaveKeating

Feb 19

An interesting discussion on The Weeds this week about the constitutional and electoral changes that are needed to save America's broken democracy, and whether a civilian government could push through those democratic changes.

It got me thinking. (🧵1/8)
open.spotify.com/episode/0Eoozr…

They talked about a much-derided Thomas Friedman column where he said a Biden-Cheney presidential ticket would save democracy

It's clear that any constitutional/electoral reform would need some kind of bipartisan alliance - but is this the right one?🧵2/8 nytimes.com/2022/01/11/opi…

In the podcast they discuss the problem: whoever proposes a change, the other party will resist it. It's a democratic system seemingly incapable of reforming itself democratically. (🧵3/8)

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Dave Keating

@DaveKeating

Feb 19

Former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall, former #Brexit advisor in DC who resigned saying she could no longer peddle lies for 🇬🇧 government:

"It wasn't the vote to leave 🇪🇺, it was the wilful shameful naked lying about the consequences of that choice" open.spotify.com/episode/2WLaee…

"It was how the government has delivered Brexit that really dropped the scales from my eyes," and made her rethink the huge problems UK is facing, she says.

"It's caused me to question, how was this allowed to happen, and is still happening as a sort of national gaslighting?"

"I think British people always had this idea - we're fundamentally decent, we stand in line, we're good fellows and we obey certain unwritten norms of our constitution," she says.

"What's been revealed in the last 5 years is that's only true if people are willing to abide by it"

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Dave Keating

@DaveKeating

Feb 18

70 presidents and prime ministers from Europe and Africa are arriving right now for day 2 of the #EUAUSummit in Brussels.

The big-picture geopolitical context: #Europe is trying to convince #Africa to choose them as a partner instead of #China.

European and African leaders have just held a press conference announcing a compromise on the issue of #Covid19Vaccines and IP rights.

The EU will set up technology transfer hubs in Africa to scale up production. But this falls short of the #TRIPSwaiver African countries wanted.

"We’re doing this in the right order," insists Macron.

"We first donated doses, now we’re launching these technology transfer hubs so we can develop the manufacturing sites for MRNA manufacture...Then we need the purchasing commitment."

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Dave Keating

@DaveKeating

Feb 17

#Mali is not officially on the agenda of today's #EUAUSummit summit in Brussels.

But given the question mark that now hangs over future EU military involvement in the #Sahel, it is sure to come up on the sidelines.

@eucopresident

The #EUAUSummit is now underway.

@eucopresident Charles Michel starts the opening ceremony by saying the relationship needs to be rethought.

The context is Africa now has other partner choices than the West: China and Russia.

President #Macron is addressing the #EUAUsummit now.

"The summit we're having today comes at an exceptional crossroads in time, where we as Europeans need to decide whether we want to build a unique alliance with you in Africa."

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Dave Keating

@DaveKeating

Feb 17

Here at the #EUAUsummit, the EU27 leaders are right now holding an emergency meeting on #Ukraine inside the bubble before meeting their African counterparts.

The Commission is said to be presenting a sanctions package against #Russia that will be triggered if there’s an invasion

This is an informal European Council meeting so there will be not vote on the EU sanctions package.

This is intended to be informational, so all countries are on the same page about the sanctions they’re ready to impose. In theory, there should be no debate.

As the EU prime ministers and presidents met on the sidelines of the #EUAUsummit, they were receiving breaking news about shelling in Eastern #Ukraine.

Did this stiffen resolve?