3,000 French troops to be deployed in Sahel

French Military officials have confirmed the government will send 3,000 troops to combat violence and terrorism in the Sahel region of Africa.

“We are reorganizing our contingent so that 3,000 French soldiers are in that zone. Out role is to pursue counter-terrorism in north Mali, Niger and in Chad. We are in the process of ending the first phase of the war Mali,” dais the Frenc Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Last year there were 5,000 stationary French troops in Mali. French army helped out Malian army fight rebels and eventually cleared the cities in the north of the country which were captured for almost one year. However, the administration Paris said a few months ago it will downsize the stationary troops to 1,000.

On the verge of new intel gathered in the area, French official are thinking about another offensive. “We must fight with extreme precision against any attempt to regroup. A certain number of jihadist groups still want to regroup in northern Mali,” Le Drian also added.

UN forces are also present in Mali while the local army is rebuilding itself. The Republic of Mali is located in the West Africa and it borders Niger, Algeria, the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mauritania. The armed conflict broke out in 2012 and the French Army launched Operation Serval in January 2013. A month later the last Islamist stronghold of Kidal was recaptured and even French president Francois Hollande visited Mali.