Jihadists who have imposed a crippling fuel blockade in Mali want to topple the military junta and impose Islamist rule, but not necessarily rule themselves, France’s foreign intelligence chief said Monday.Speaking as France prepares this week to mark 10 years since the November 13, 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris that left 130 dead, Nicolas Lerner also warned that Africa is now the “epicentre of terrorism” globally and “directly threatens” security in Europe.The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has since September been targeting fuel tankers, particularly those coming from Senegal and Ivory Coast, in a blockade that has impacted swathes of the country, including the capital Bamako.Since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali has been ruled by a military junta that is struggling to counter various armed groups, including the JNIM.”The intelligence we have shows that JNIM is not necessarily capable of controlling Mali, nor does it actually want to, as it is also aware of its limitations,” Lerner, head of France’s General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), told France Inter radio.”But everything suggests that JNIM wants the fall of the junta and the installation of authorities who back the establishment of a caliphate on all or part of Malian territory,” he added.A caliphate historically referred — up until the fall of the Ottoman Empire — to the rule of certain Muslim-led states.But in recent years, the term has been used by jihadists, including the Islamic State (IS) group, when it declared a caliphate in then jihadist-controlled parts of Iraq and Syria.The rise of the junta in Mali led to the end of France’s presence in its former colonial territory but also a surge in Russian influence, notably through mercenary groups. Mali has now put in place “an alternative security model, notably assured by the Russians, which is now largely failing,” Lerner said.”A very large number of leaders of terrorist organisations who previously came from Arab countries are now leading African groups,” he said.”Africa is now the epicentre of terrorism and directly threatens our interests,” he said, pointing to the jihadist presence in the Sahel, central Africa and Horn of Africa. “Allowing terrorist groups to establish themselves, allowing sanctuaries to be created, has always led in recent history to planned attacks. Therefore, we must be extremely vigilant,” he said.France on Friday advised French nationals to temporarily leave Mali “as soon as possible”, after the United States and Britain announced the evacuation of their “non-essential” personnel and their families due to the deteriorating situation.
