I was told yesterday that President Hollande defined the eradication
of the Islamist terrorists from Mali as the objective of the on-going military
campaign. He added that the troops will stay in that African country as long as
it is necessary to achieve this goal.
In my opinion, this objective is too vast, dangerously vague
as it can lead to a stalemate, a never-ending and unaffordable mission. Furthermore,
with time, it has the risk of turning the French public opinion against an
operation they support today.
A military intervention like this one needs to have a clear
end state. It should be as short as
possible and lead to a political process. It has also to be linked to the
actions carried out by others, in the case, by the West African nations as well
as by the EU training mission that is being put together. It cannot be taken in
isolation. It has also to have a regional dimension. And above all, it cannot ignore that at the end of the day, the ultimate
objective is to create the conditions for Mali to take care of its own security
and governance. This requires a comprehensive approach and it is much larger than
the current military operation by France. This operation, with all its merits,
should not be more than a stop-gap in a multidimensional and multi-actor
process.
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