{{France and Mali signed a new defence pact on Wednesday, an agreement that will let Paris maintain its prominent role in a former colony whose desert north was occupied by al Qaeda-linked rebels until they were defeated by French troops last year.}}<\/p>\n
France has sought to wind down direct involvement in former colonies in Africa, where troops frequently intervened during the decades after independence. <\/p>\n
But weak local armies, the Islamist threat and a series of political crises and rebellions have led to major French interventions in recent years.<\/p>\n
The new pact, a defence cooperation treaty that replaces a 1985 agreement, outlines the framework for French intelligence sharing, training and equipping of Malian troops.<\/p>\n
French troops still tracking down Islamists in Mali are operating under a separate operational agreement signed last year, but the new deal ensures long-term military ties between the two nations.<\/p>\n
Last year, France dispatched war planes and thousands of troops to beat back an advance by Islamist fighters who took advantage of a coup in the capital and a rebellion by separatist Tuareg rebels to seize Mali’s desert north the year before.<\/p>\n
Most of the Islamists fled the superior French firepower and the French deployment in Mali has since been reduced to about 1,700.<\/p>\n
However, underscoring how the threat is now scattered across the vast Sahara-Sahel band, France is in the process of reorganising its presence in the region with troops in Mali being folded into a 3,000-strong anti-Islamist force also operating in Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n
The defence agreement comes on the eve of a visit to the region by French President Francois Hollande, who will travel to Ivory Coast, Niger and Chad.<\/p>\n
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