♪ >> this is al jazeera and these are the top stories, ukraine is celebrating one of its most significant victory since russia's invasion in february. ukrainian soldiers have captured the city of kherson, ukrainian flag has been raised on public monuments. it is being hailed as a historic day. russian officials are downplaying their withdrawal. >> the russian minister of defense confirmed that the last

russian soldier left the city of kherson at 5:00 a.m. friday morning after a night of heavy bombardment against ukrainian positions in an attempt to stop them from getting closer. later in the day, we received more detail saying that 30,000 russian soldiers left the city of kherson. >> people escaping the democratic republic of congo says that they have been sexually assaulted and tortured. they deny allegations of human rights abuses saying that the claims are meant to discredit them. one of the largest crypto currency exchanges has filed for bankruptcy in the united states, ftx learns -- works to return money to users.

sam bankman-fried will step down. the u.s. seas of the low was rate of inflation since january. this may lead to the fed slowly reducing rates. president biden tells delicate satin cop 27 climate talks that the u.s. is committed to ensuring that grime -- that climate does not grow more than 1.4 degrees. he spoke about the u.s. commitment to finding climate change. those are the headlines, coming after, inside story. ♪

♪ >> france officially ends its operation barkhane mission. it soldiers fought armed groups for nine years, what has it achieved and what options are left for maintaining regional security. this is inside story. ♪ >> hello, there, welcome to the program. france is officially ending its largest overseas military mission. operation barkhane was launched in the saharan region of africa, meant to combat armed groups. at the time, five-and-a-half

thousand french soldiers worked alongside several countries in africa. tensions increased in burkina faso and chad. relations soured after military coups in 2020 and 2021. and national strategic review was announced for the next decade, emmanuel macron says that the operation will be held in a different capacity. >> our interventions must be better defined from the beginning, we would not like to be committed to external conflicts indefinitely. we formally announce the operation barkhane today, our military support to the regions in africa will continue but

according to the new principles that we have defined with them. >> let's take a closer look at how this developed. in 2012, taured separatists took parts of northern mali. france launched operation barkhane in an attempt to get rid of those groups. despite this, those groups remained active. operation barkhane aim was to provide -- to the member states. the joint unit was meant to eventually replace operation barkhane, it suspended its operations earlier this year. ♪ let's bring in our guests, we have the sahara price -- the sahara crisis director. and the chair of african

internet can -- africa internet securities -- warm welcome to all, thank you for joining us on inside story today. i'd like to start with you, i'd like to understand what the end of operation barkhane means in practical terms. we know that these 3000 troops will remain on the ground. is this a shift in terms of engagement? >> it means the end of a regional strategy, to strategize the region mostly concerning niger. we have a strong international strategy in the region, and operation barkhane was at the center. we have found french troops are withdrawing.

the regional establishede strategy doesn't make sense anymore. operation barkhane, will end after a decade but remains on the ground is many french soldiers. they will support the u.n. force. it is a joint decision. but in a region where troops are trained to contain the extension of violence. >> i wonder how much you believe, sitting in paris, how much this is driven from

domestic issues, there were some french deaths, this is part of a broader review, macron tried to cash this as a -- cache this as an extension of the war in ukraine. >> in my view, it has no relation to the direct political situation in france, there is a lot of international policing affairs and military engagement. france has decided to review its strategic position with a

growing involvement in the so-called conventional conflicts. but no, in my view, this is a retreat and a formal end of operation barkhane is linked to the very limited success and more importantly, to the rejection and the resentment which has been growing increasingly in the sahara and more generally west african countries. >> in the region, is this being regarded as ataxic -- a tacit acknowledgment of the failures? >> i think if you ask the french government, they have made impacts -- and we can argue

seriously that this is a failure. if you came with the intention to establish mali, the question how much of this stabilization has taken place, and specifically at the time, the resentment of the french jumped -- of the french government is increasing. it's important that we bring the peace resistance together. and on the business of the russian ukraine war, russia has supposedly become the new friends of the -- of the malians and burkina faso.

the strategies between the two countries have changed drastically. the economy of this process -- the economy of this crisis also plays an to the relationship between mali and the french government. >> i want to listen to some of the reaction that we heard in niger after macron announcement. >> because it is a force at the root of the problem in the sahara, it cannot be the solution to the problem. >> having a new name for the operation and sahara is not different, it is the same

soldiers and we have not had convincing results. >> when they left northern mali, a portion returned to niger, since then they have been working with local armed forces, and they've been working well on the ground. >> we have mixed reactions there. do you believe that this is reflective of public reaction, why was a little achieved? >> yes. this is reflecting what's going on on the ground, there is a strong french government feeling that the situation over the last few years has deteriorated recently. it has resulted in political turmoil in niger, and brooking

another's. -- burkina faso and others. i think that they have invested too much in the military answer, and they were unable -- for two things. they were unable to include other options. asylum states fed themselves more problems by defining the objectives of stabilizing the region. what they needed was a well-balanced strategy and by that i mean, military answers, military operation, counterterrorism, always coming

forward, and should dominate all other objectives. where the french failed in that regard, they failed to -- create the operation barkhane in the region and make it into a political ambition. >> there are lots of different complex drivers and that region, but i understand that your organization is part of a civil society coalition that has been calling for more coherent grassroots action and is also been prioritizing a military solution. what would you like to see different now? >> with all the military

investment that has been made not just in mali, what kind of investment do we have, is not it time to invest in the skills of the citizens. we need security, the entire military has weakened the the african influence on the regent -- of the region. why make such a huge investment, when there are structural issues that need to be addressed which is investing in humanities of the citizens of the united -- of

the states. people are no longer confident in their selves and their ability. there should be more dialogue, more of the soft approach, more dialogue and more investment in human capital. so that they can be removed from crime and focus on lighter things. >> this isn't just about religion, politics or resources, what is driving recruitment in particular for some of these groups? >> there are different factors, what is very important to realize is, the fact is, even if initially jihadi groups were coming from the area and they

have changed and have become more rooted in a local environment. the most important movement is linked to al qaeda or the islamic state, they find local combatants. they have very strong linkages with local communities and local networks. and is also important to look at the transnational ability to shift from an area to another one. of course, you can find a number of economic reasons, so he'll -- so he'll region -- this are here -- sahel region is one of the

poorest. those groups are not just be understood as violent extremists, it is also important to take into consideration their political agenda because they are also dissident lee political actors even if it is much more easy to identify clinical -- political claims from al qaeda affinity groups. some of those are connected to the islamic states. >> speaking of political agendas it seems that the kremlin for example is eager to step into this -- space that has been left by the french. we saw that in mali, when the french pulled out. what kind of a difference has not made? -- has that made? >> when the french withdrew from molly, -- malley -- mali,

people believed that the country would quickly collapse. this did not happen. the support of russian mercenaries, where they go to maintain some sort of presence -- the situation becomes extremely difficult for malian authorities. i am simply stressing the fact that the withdrawal of the french did not lead to the collapse that some expected.

something that is also interesting, there was some continuity between the time of the french and the time of the russians. there is always an investment in the military answer to insurance and see -- two insurgency. in a way, there is no real military answer, or a preeminent military answer to this quip -- to this crisis. >> we did see russian flags being waved around during burkina faso, and we also saw protesters waving russian flights just a few months ago. there has been speculation about misinformation campaigns from moscow. do you feel that the people on the ground, particularly in rural communities, do they view

russians differently from french? this is still men with guns? >> i think it is a precarious situation. if you go to some of these places in sahel, this relationship with the french has not touched us to the extent that postcolonial -- of what it means in paris. they are genuine questions. the more that they continue to support the securities in sahel

and west africa, will be -- will continuing to be lacking in confidence in their ability to stand on their own. what happens when the french government leaves. there is no deliberate investment in them to step in. it is a huge problem. >> we do now have the military in charge in both mali and burkina faso. i wonder how much french military failures here contributed to regime change and for the sentiment to take place. do you believe that it did and we can see more and chad and nig er for instance? >> for sure what happened in

chad after the death of -- has been a french political position which immediately recognized the military committee headed by the son of the late leader as being a factor which has contributed to and legitimized a military power in chad. i think that the problem in france is the often overlooked governance problem both in burkina faso and mali. the stress on only the military approach to the crisis has prevented france from looking at the big problems in terms of

governance, and the ways in which elected leaders in malley -- mali, have been rejected by their own political opinion. in fact, that is fight they have been overrun by a military agenda. the malian power has wanted to be ousted itself and replaced by elected leaders, but it didn't happen because it is difficult with such a political standard. and to a lesser's test to a lesser extent in burkina faso. >> i know there's a major amount of certainty -- uncertainty that

we all alluded to, there are something like 14,000 u.n. peacekeepers still there, we have the forces from niger, g5 forces have pulled out, i am not sure how successful they will be going forward. but we have heard that the terror threat is expanding and he is calling for a collective response which all three of you seem to be calling for. do you think there is this space, the political will, for peace talks? >> it really depends on the different countries, right now, the french federation strategy has been heavily moderate.

the first country to publicly say that the government would be open to dialogue, right now, i don't think it it is available in mali at least. in niger, there is a different situation there. the president has said that he would engage in peace talks. not necessarily the leaders of the movement, but speaking to different military commanders and seeing how to integrate these commander into -- these commanders into niger.

i am a bit pessimistic about the assumption right now. >> as this continues, civilians continue to pay the price for ongoing conflict. thank you go for joining our discussion today. thank you to all of our guest. -- guests. and thank you as well for watching. visit our website at any time, al jazeera.com. and to join the discussion go to our facebook page. remember, you can join the conversation on twitter. for me, and the whole team. ♪

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