France honours fallen in fight against sub-Saharan extremists
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday presided over a ceremony to remember 13 soldiers killed in a helicopter crash while battling militants in Mali.
“In the name of the nation, I bow to their sacrifice, I bow before the pain of the families, in front of parents mourning a son, in front of the wives – the companions who lost a loved one – in front of the children whose fathers have been stolen by war,” Mr Macron said.
The ceremony was also attended by former French presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. Malian President Ibrahim
Boubacar Keita was also present amid growing hostility at home to foreign forces helping to fight extremist militants.
Mr Macron posthumously bestowed the Legion of Honour, France’s highest military and civilian honour, on the dead.
They were killed when two helicopters collided at low altitude while supporting French ground forces in combat with extremist fighters in Mali.
The crash was the worst loss of life in a single day for the French military since 1983, when 58 soldiers were killed in the Beirut barracks bombing. Earlier yesterday, hundreds of people lined avenues in Paris to see a motorcade bearing the coffins cross the Alexandre III bridge towards the Invalides military hospital and museum.
French forces in Mali are training local security forces to take on the militants, but they remain woefully unprepared despite years of foreign pledges of more funding and equipment.
More than 40 French soldiers have died in the sub-Sahara in the past six years.
France’s intervention began in 2013, when insurgents swept into Mali’s north and advanced rapidly before being pushed back. But despite France’s military presence, extremists have regrouped to carry out deadly attacks and violence has spread to neighbouring countries.
Mr Macron said the French government would begin a thorough review of Operation Barkhane, vowing that “all options are on the table”.
He reiterated his call for allies to step up their participation in the West Africa operation.
Only Britain has contributed helicopters and security personnel, while the US provides intelligence on extremist movements across an area the size of western Europe.
Since January, more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in Mali and Burkina Faso, the UN said this month.