French President Emmanuel Macron undertakes his first trip as commander-in-chief on Friday when he meets troops fighting Islamist militants in Mali where the security situation has worsened despite French intervention more than four years ago. “Emmanuel Macron made the commitment during the campaign to immediately go and see troops engaged in the fight against terrorism,” said a senior French diplomat. After sending troops to Mali, France has since spread some 4,000 soldiers across the region to hunt down Islamists, while United Nations’ peacekeepers have been deployed to ensure Mali’s stability. Diplomats said Macron wanted to fine-tune policy to ensure countries were also given more help to develop rather than just focusing on security aspects. Report by Marine Pennetier (Gao, Mali); Additional reporting and writing by John Irish; Editing by Phil Berlowitz; Reuters

Source: Egypt Independent May 19, 2017 12:33 UTC