Explainer-Why has France been at war for a decade in the West African desert?


  • World
  • Thursday, 17 Feb 2022

FILE PHOTO: A French soldier of the "Belleface" Desert Tactical Group (GTD) uses a sniffer dog to check for explosives during an area control operation in the Gourma region as part of Operation Barkhane in Ndaki, Mali, July 29, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

DAKAR (Reuters) - France and military allies are leaving Mali after using it for almost a decade as a base for fighting Islamist insurgents who continue to wreak havoc and control swathes of territory around West Africa.

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