President Emmanuel Macron has called an end to the French-led Operation Barkhane in Africa’s Sahel region, where France has sent 5,100 troops to fight terrorist groups, including those linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda.
Mr Macron said there would be a transformation of France’s role in the region and the end of the operation in its current form.
He gave no indication of a potential reduction of troop numbers.
"The time has come. The continuation of our commitment in the Sahel will not be the same," Mr Macron said.
He called for a "profound transformation" and a new international force for the region.
France has had some success against Sahel militants in recent months but the situation in the region is extremely fragile.
Paris has become frustrated as there is no apparent end in sight to its operations, with political turmoil on the rise, especially in Mali.
The decision comes days after Col Assimi Goita of Mali took power after removing the country's second president in nine months.
Mr Macron described the move as a "coup within a coup" and temporarily suspended joint operations between French and Malian troops on June 3.
It was reported on Wednesday that France's Defence Cabinet had agreed to cut troop numbers in the region but the figure has not been officially disclosed
Mr Macron delayed a decision on troop reduction after an online conference in February of representatives from the five Sahel countries – Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania – and their allies.
At the conference, Chad said it would send 1,200 troops to complement the 5,100 French soldiers in the area.
"Obviously, France is not going to stay forever in the Sahel," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in the Ivory Coast, when asked about a troop reduction.
"It was known since the beginning and obviously it is Africans who have to ensure the security of African countries."
Last year, Paris boosted its troop numbers for its counter-terrorism operation in the Sahel by 600.
That move was meant to be temporary.
Military and diplomatic sources indicated that an "adjustment" in the French presence would depend on the involvement of other European countries in the Takuba Task Force, which is fighting militants in the Sahel alongside troops from Mali and Nigeria.
Those forces have been increased in recent months.
Militants linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS have strengthened their hold in the region, making large areas of territory ungovernable and stoking ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
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Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
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Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
