UK to maintain Chinook presence in Sahel

Following the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron that Operation Barkhane will be wound up, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has said there are no immediate implications for the RAF CH-47 Chinook force currently supporting France’s counter-insurgency mission to Africa’s Sahel region. The Sahel region, which encompasses Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, has been home to a violent Islamist insurgency for a number of years, with France first sending troops to Mali under Operation Serval in 2013.