they'd been brought in to stabilise the country. in, more crucially, to implement this peace deal, or support the implementation of a peace deal between former rebels in the north and the malian government. this deal hasn't moved forward since 2015. the militancy has only worsened over the years. but it is going to have quite a serious effect on the situation, isn't it? well, yes, i mean, these are 13,000 troops and personnel leaving within a period of six months, and a vacuum is going to be left behind. it's not enough, so if you think about the wagner mercenaries, who are 1,000 at the start of the deployment, that's not enough to fill in that void. the fact that nearly 3,000 french troops had onlyjust left the country and that gap hasn't been filled yet. the fact that mali also decided to withdraw from the g5 sahel force, which was the regional coalition of about 5,000 troops, means that it has become isolated. in this empty space which has now been left by the un and by france, we have, of course, the wagner group,