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French Forces Leave Timbuktu After 8-Year Mission

French legionnaires and Malian troops entered Timbuktu, a northern desert city, in February 2013, after an eight-month Islamist occupation. Now as troops leave the city in a symbolic departure more than eight years later, residents fear being abandoned in a situation they see as similar to Afghanistan. with the departure of American troops after the Taliban takeover, RFI reports.

Since August 2014, Paris has deployed around 5,100 troops across the Sahel region as part of the Barkhane operation -- helping to support local governments and their poorly equipped forces fight an ever-growing Islamist insurgency.

France's recent decision to pull troops out of key hubs in Mali has raised questions about the future as militants expand their operations in the countryside.

France's military deployment in the Sahel is due to fall to about 3,000 troops by next year. French forces already left bases in the northern Malian towns of Kidal and Tessalit in November.

InFocus

Blagoje Grujic/MINUSMA

Women walk on the street in Timbuktu, Mali (file image).

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