France’s Hollande warns of Islamist threat in West Africa

NIAMEY Niger (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande promoted a new military operation being rolled out in West Africa to take on a multi-faceted menace from Islamist groups that he warned threatened France’s interests and citizens.

France led a military intervention in its former colony Mali last year, halting the advance of al Qaeda-linked fighters who had seized control of the northern two-thirds of the country in 2012.

The military operation succeeded in scattering the Islamist groups in Mali, and Paris is in the process of reorganising its deployment in the region, with its 1,700 soldiers in Mali being folded into a broader counter-terrorism force.

Under the new plan, some 3,000 French troops will now operate out of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad – countries straddling the vast arid Sahel band – with the aim of stamping out an Islamist threat across the region.

“There are threats, notably from Libya. Military hardware has accumulated there, and without a doubt, terrorists are seeking refuge there,” Hollande said in Niger during a three-day trip that will also take him to Ivory Coast and Chad.

“We have, therefore, decided to put in place structures and measures that will allow us to confront this threat of terrorism in the Sahel,” he said.

Islamist fighters launched suicide attacks last year on Niger’s Somair uranium mine in the town of Arlit, which is operated by Areva, a supplier of uranium to France’s nuclear power programme.

Twenty-four soldiers and one civilian were killed in the raids, which Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou blamed on fighters based in southern Libya.