A meeting of ministers on the Takuba task force. At 26 to take stock

July 14, 2021September 11, 2023 Nicolas Gros Verheyde

(B2) After Emmanuel Macron's announcements on the reorganization of Operation Barkhane and the new place given to Takuba, it was necessary to take stock with the various European countries involved or interested in the operation

ministerial meeting in VTC (MOD Romania)

Defense ministers or their representatives from 26 countries met via video conference on Tuesday (July 13). Some were already in Paris to attend the July 14 parade which will see Takuba's troops in the spotlight and lead the parade.

Make an inventory

Objective of the meeting according to one of the participants: assess the latest developments in Mali " and " address issues of cooperation in the field of security, stability and the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region ».

Seek the greatest international support

The participants especially taken note » of the project reconfiguration of the French commitment in the Sahel, announced last Friday by French President Emmanuel Macron. They " pledged to seek the greatest possible international support for the stabilization of the G5 Sahel countries and their counter-terrorism programs », reports one of the participants.

Focus on training

Future involvement of international allies should “ focus on training and capacity building of local national armed forces », through two tools: Task Force Takuba and the European Union training mission EUTM Mali. Finally, they sent a message to the Malian authorities so that they " follow the electoral calendar adopted at the ECOWAS summit in June ».

26 participating countries

Were represented at the meeting, in addition to France*: 17 EU members (Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic*, Cyprus, Denmark*, Estonia*, Greece, Hungary, Italy*, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal *, Romania*, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden*), four neighboring countries (United Kingdom, Norway*, Serbia, Ukraine), two North Americans (Canada, United States) and the two most affected African countries (Mali , Nigeria).

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

* Countries that contribute directly on the ground or have already decided to contribute in the near future. This brings us to eight participating countries (in addition to France). Our classification is slightly different from the one established officially which takes into account all the countries which only send an officer in the general staff, but not in the field.