President leads tributes to 13 French soldiers killed in Mali
EMMANUEL MACRON has led a national tribute to 13 soldiers killed in Mali in a helicopter accident while fighting jihadist insurgents, sparking debate over the country’s mission in Western Africa.
Hundreds lined the Alexandre III bridge in Paris yesterday as the funeral motorcade bearing 13 coffins drew into Les Invalides, where 2,500 people attended the ceremony, broadcast live on a giant screen outside the military complex. Among those present were children from the soldiers’ home bases.
The deaths were the biggest singleday loss for the French military in nearly four decades and led to soulsearching over France’s 4,500-member operation in Mali and four other countries in the Sahel.
Mr Macron, the French president, last week said that “all options are on the table” and issued an appeal for more European support ahead of this week’s Nato summit outside London.
Britain already has helicopters and around 100 personnel on the ground while the US provides intelligence on jihadist movements across an area the size of Western Europe.
Bestowing the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest award, on “13 children of France” and among its “bravest soldiers”, Mr Macron said: “Freedom often has, alas, the taste of bloodshed. In the name of the nation, I bow before their sacrifice, I bow before the families’ pain. They died on a mission for France to protect the peoples of the Sahel, for the security of their compatriots and the freedom of the world, for us here.”
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the Malian president, also attended the ceremony.
Some 41 French soldiers have now died in the Sahel over the past six years.