Mali orders C295.

Airbus has anounced in december 2 having received an order from Mali for a C295 transport plane.

The order has been made by the transition government, following a military coup d’etat that happened this summer. The plane, which the amount of the contract hasnt been revealed, will be delivered to Mali in 2021 and will enable to reinforce the means of transport of the country which already possess a C295 military tactical cargo aircraft. The first plane, which has been delivered in december 2016, has made more than 1770 hours of flight during which he could transported 38 000 passengers and 900 tons of freight, explains Airbus. Two aircrafts will be employed for military operations and in order to link isolated zones in the north of the country.

G5 Sahel.

In parallel wherever it is in Mali or more largely in the sahelian region, operations to fight terrorism go on. It associates Barkhane force to the joint force of the G5 Sahel. Created in february 2017, this force, which gather Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria and Burkina Faso

Créée en février 2017, cette force, qui regroupe le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Tchad, le Niger et le Burkina Faso continue to grow and to mature. Supported by ONU and EU and by numerous training actions Sahel G5 think about "Addressing security challenges in the Sahelo-Saharan strip," a cross-border region, reports a Joint Force Headquarters source. If notable advancement were taken into account last years, a long way has to be made for states implicated in G5.

First, in a capacitor point of view there are still numerous needs that has to be fullfield. It is notably the case of air capacities that is able to be engaged in the fight for terrorism. From this moment, joint force integrally depends of the means  of presents partner countries in the region. Likewise, a major goal has been identified regarding intelligence, where force stays dependent on external actors", adds this same source, reminding that G5 principally deals with intelligence from human origin. A necessity « to follow the current dynamic and to develop the capacities » of the force is carried by the present actors. The recents advancements obtained regarding Barkhane operation « imposes on us of doing the best to keep the advantage on the enemy » adds this source of the joint force, that was interviewed by AJD the first days of december.

Mix report according to the French politics.

If opinions are opposed to say that the joint force has realised notable progress, there are opposed point of views regarding the real will of the member of the countries. Thomas Gassilloud, Fren,ch MP of Agir Ensemble group also interviewed by AJD has contrasted the report made by the joint force.

At G5 level there is a real « will to respect the balance between the countries, and thus more than one performance goal. There are many duplicates in structure. What is the countries politics will to get strong G5 ? He asked himself during this meeting. Back from a Mauritanian trip, he reminded how this country was interesting in terms of safety plan. No major terrorist attacks has been registered since more than ten years. Mauritania is based on a political model. There is still a will for the public politics targetting in covering the territory in deepness », adds the French Mp. A political frame in which is adding a real military reflexion on the fight for terrorism. For Mauritania, « the idea is to be able to terrorise the terrorists possessing mobiles companies » adds Thomas Gassilloud underlining the advancement that the light reconnaissance and investigation units can represent.

If both the will and the results of G5 Sahel are questionable, the MP notices that the military pillar stays the one that have produced the more effect, corroborating the discourse of the Joint Force Headquarters. Sahel G5 will have to be under surveillance, whereas Tchad will take the presidency of this cooperation. Because of their conflicts, Tchad could be tempted to increase the pressure of the Tchad river zone where one finds Boko Haram.