Experts from elite forces of the Spanish Army evaluated points in northern Mali to deploy special operations units within the framework of the Takuba multinational operation against jihadist terrorism in the Sahel.
It was during the first semester of 2019 and after a request made by Francewhose increased deployment of forces in the area, the barkhane questHe was going through a delicate moment. Spain’s final response upset the French ally, according to military sources familiar with the process.
France announced this Thursday the European and Canadian withdrawal that it has led in Mali with a statement that portrays the failure of a European autonomous defense mission, without the assistance of the United States. It is signed by Germany, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Estonia… Spain does not appear in the document, despite having given air support to Barkhane with the Marfil Detachment of the Air Force and despite being involved with more than 500 soldiers in the parallel operation EUTM (European Union Training Mission), training local shock troops.
stagnant front
In 2018, the Barkhane operation had stalled in the fight against Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the dominant terrorist franchise in the area. The French government had already sent messages to the executive of Mariano Rajoy in the winter, and reiterated them in the summer after the triumph of the motion of censure and the arrival of Pedro Sanchez to the power.
France invited Spain to be the main contributor for appearing the Islamist terrorism of the Sahel as national security priority Spanish.
Defense then sent its group of experts to Mali to locate locations for bases from which it could promote blows that destabilize the jihadist insurgency to the north, providing respite for Barkhane’s French soldiers in the center and south of the country.
Takuba was finally created in 2020. The last hit of his special forces, on the 9th, claimed the lives of 30 jihadists in a clash in the Inlaglaou region, on the border with Niger.
Three a’s and one e
In June 2019, a military technical report recommending participation was raised to the decision area of the Ministry. Its main assumption was an action by Spanish Special Operations units in the Takuba guerrillas, under the scheme that in NATO jargon they call A3E (Advise, Accompany, Assist and Enableor advice, accompaniment, assistance and qualification), the same with which they worked sharing combat missions behind with local forces in Iraq.
The planning, known in part by the French, obtained the approval of the Defense General Staff, but non-negotiable aspects of a leadership that was more French than European led the General Secretariat for Defense Policy to finally recommend that summer a “no” to Minister Margarita Robles.
They were not budgetary problems so much as political and strategic considerations. Defense spokesmen asked by this newspaper did not comment. Other countries much further away from the backyard that is the Sahel for Spain, such as Sweden, agreed to increase their support for the mission led by France. In the meetings of the coalition in which they have had occasion, the sources consulted refer, the French have complained to their allies for not having more help.
Currently, Spain has two C-295 transport planes from the Air Force based in Dakar (Senegal) deployed in the Sahel, with 70 soldiers in Bamako (Mali), helicopters from the Army Airmobile Forces (FAMET) and 530 soldiers (from the Galicia Brigade and the Tercio de la Armada, in the last rotation, from last December 1) trainers from the disjointed local army in that city and in Koulikoro, and eight more instructors in the rear of Banghi (Central African Republic), all this deployment, under the initiative of the European Union and French leadership. The withdrawal announced by France leaves in the air the continuity of this entire operationwhich is now eight years old.
in russian hands
It is in Mali where the armed jihadist gangs compete for more traffic corridors for people and merchandise, including drugs, to Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Europe to finance their fight against the infidel.
The last National Security Report, written in March 2021, cites the danger of AQIM and DGS (Daesh of the Great Sahara) in “open war for hegemony & rdquor ;. That scenario may change, he warns: “The worst case scenario It would occur in the event that both organizations reached a truce that would allow them to concentrate their capacities & rdquor ;.
Even after the West’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and its takeover by the Taliban, the Sahel is still considered by experts to be the largest incubator of terrorism on the planet.
This key area to hinder the indoctrination and supply of killers like the ones in the bataclan roomthe trains of Madrid or the Rambla of Barcelona, is the one that from now and in the next six months the European forces will abandon in the midst of an increasingly hostile environment.
With Mali’s withdrawal, the scene of the local anti-jihadist struggle remains in the hands of Russia. “We will see if they do it in A or in B”comments one of the soldiers consulted, alluding to the notable penetration of unmarked soldiers into the area, increasingly confirmed Wagner’s mercenaries. French intelligence was the first to link the businessman Yevgeny Prigozin,
The officers of the Barkhane mission could return to their bases in France and Canada with evidence of war crimes committed by Russian mercenaries.
a leading member of the business court of Vladimir Putinas the owner of that private army, which before setting foot in the Sahel he deployed in Libya and Syria.
Their raids in the area, without hesitation that responds to the Geneva and Hague conventions, have been more successful than the ROE (operational rules of engagement) of the European forces, adjusted to international law. The sources consulted point to the possibility that Barkhane’s officers return to their bases in France and Canada with evidence of war crimes committed by the mercenaries.
Other sources, these from Spanish intelligence, pointed out to this newspaper at the end of last January the widespread suspicion that, after the agitation of the military in Mali and Niger, there are Russian forces and a torrent of fakes, such as a false, fiercely anti-French statement and anti-European of a supposed republican government of Mali that was denied on January 24.
the cam of terror
Wagner’s raids take place against a backdrop of even more brutal attacks. AQIM and the Saharan DAESH not only compete to dominate territories, nor to make room for themselves in the chaotic Libyan arms market, but also for the desperate recruiting in the zone.
In this modern heart of darkness, the scene of another overlapping war, the first major international conflict caused by climate change, most of the
The young people of the villages scattered in the ocean of sand face a choice: enlist with the jihadists or have their throats cut
local gang terrorists are converts to radical jihadism for sheer survival.
As the terrorists advance through the terrain, the young men of the villages scattered in the ocean of sand face a choice: enlist with them or have their throats cut. “A terrorist group comes to any town and tells you: ‘Either you join me, or tomorrow we will kill your whole familyand they have no one to turn to’ & rdquor ;, Rodrigo Gaona, captain of the GAR, Rapid Action Group of the Civil Guard, who has already been posted 19 times on that front against jihadism, told EL PERIÓDICO.
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The Civil Guard instructs in Niger, together with Mali, the GAR-SI, a twin body that they have created with the hitherto uninformed and demoralized local policewhich little by little has been abandoning its role as cannon fodder.
France and the allies of the dying Barkhane mission have communicated their intention to continue with a military presence in the area, even if it is not in Mali. In a few months it will be seen if these other European parapets are also knocked down by disagreements and the lack of political will.