Le Drian in Mali for New Year's Eve. A visit full of meaning…

(BRUSSELS2) The French Defense Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, is traveling to Mali this evening for a visit which will last several days and has several objectives.

First, it is a question of paying homage to the troops present on the spot. JY Le Drian will spend the New Year in Gao. At the height of the operation, 4500 French soldiers were engaged, 7 died in operation (*) and around twenty were injured. Secondly, this is to celebrate the first anniversary of Operation Serval in the country. Triggered on January 11, 2013 (see below). Thirdly, the Minister should announce a French repositioning in the country as in the whole region (read on the Club).  Finally, and this is not the most negligible aspect, it is a question of celebrating the first "operational" mission of the new European transport aircraft, the Airbus A400M, which has just entered the army of the air française very recently (read: The A400M in service).

First operational mission for the A400M

The Airbus A400M "MSN7", renamed "City of Orléans" in honor of its godmother city, will in fact carry out its first operational mission by transporting, from Air Base 123 in Orléans, equipment to Bamako. Flight duration: 7 hours. Load transported: 22 tons. To carry out the same load, it would take 3 C-130 Hercules (9 tons per plane) and almost 10 hours of travel (9:30). Then he will have a lighter mission but just as politically symbolic, since he will take charge of the Minister and the official delegation (including journalists) to carry out a tactical flight from Bamako to Gao.

220 tonnes of ammunition seized

For the Minister, the operations carried out jointly with the Malian armed forces or in coordination with the African forces of AFISMA, then MINUSMA, have « neutralized several hundred terrorists and weakened their logistical potential ». The assessment drawn up by the DICOD is impressive: approximately 160 buildings and logistics depots and 120 vehicles belonging to terrorist groups were destroyed. 220 tons of ammunition were seized (of which 30 tons were returned to the Malian armed forces). In detail, this gives: 1300 grenades, 1000 rockets, 7700 shells, 500 mortars, 200 mines and improvised explosive devices, 20 bombs. Not to mention 12 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, normally used as nitrogen fertilizer but which can be used above all as an explosive. A few weapons were also seized: 100 rifles, 150 machine guns, 30 rockets, 20 mortars, 20 cannons and 3 SA7 missiles. The "human" balance sheet is not detailed. But some sources mention several hundred "rebels" killed (at least half a thousand).

30% of air missions carried out by the allies

To carry out this operation, a veritable logistical gymkhana was necessary, whether by sea (9 tonnes and 170 people transported), land (more than 500 million kilometers traveled by the logisticians) or by strategic air (3 tons transported and 18.500 rotations) or by tactical movements, intra-theater (480 tons of freight, 3 people transported). There are thus “more than 500 missions, 15% of which were carried out by the allies (Belgians, Germans, British, Danes, etc.). To do this, one or two tankers had to be siphoned off with more than 600 million liters of aeronautical fuel and 1 million liters of ground fuel consumed.

Packages for soldiers

The ministers took the opportunity to distribute to the French soldiers engaged in the theater of operation in Mali a festive basket " made in France " to the soldiers present for New Year's Eve. The Minister Delegate for Agrifood, Guillaume GAROT, made the trip for the occasion. Inside, jars of foie gras provided by the Interprofessional Committee for Foie Gras (CIFOG), toast for foie gras and waffles from Jacquet-Brossard (Limagrain Group), jams and fruit jellies from Andros ( Pierrot Gourmand and Bonne Maman), fruit juices and sodas from UNIJUS (Pepsico and Pampryl), red wine from Castel... Incidentally, we learn that 3000 packages have been prepared, a little more than the 2500 soldiers officially present.