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Mali's New Leadership Raises Questions About French Counterinsurgency Mission

Lisa Bryant

   PARIS - Over the past seven years, France's Barkhane counterinsurgency
   operation in the Sahel has weathered terrorist attacks, flagging
   political support from its African allies, and growing popular protests
   against the ongoing presence of Paris, the region's former colonial
   power. Now, it faces the coup in Mali.

   August's power grab by a group of army colonels -- Mali's fourth coup
   since independence -- is again posing questions about whether and for
   how long French boots should remain in an increasingly shifting and
   dangerous terrain.

   That debate ratcheted up a notch this week, following the deaths of two
   French soldiers in northern Mali, bringing to 45 the number of French
   fatalities in the region over the past seven years.

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