Mali has opted out, so other Sahelian states are trying to cooperate militarily to fill a vacuum in which the jihadists are thriving, New alliances are being reinforced by states on the front line against jihad to make up for Mali s decision to go it alone and expel France and its advanced military resources. Niger and Burkina Faso are working together and with the foreign powers, but they are also being joined by threatened coastal nations.
, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly, so familiar to West African capitals for the past five years as the ministers of foreign affairs and the armed forces, have departed office in President Emmanuel Macron s post-re-election reshuffle.