France intervened in Mali at Bamako's request in January 2013 and kept a counter-terrorism force there under Serval and Barkhane. The military authorities denounced the defence treaty in May 2022 and the last French troops left on 15 August 2022. What came after it is the Russian file.
A symmetric arrangement: it reads the same from either side. Authored once, on one record.
The arrangement
- Status
- EndedEnded, on the date the record states. A historical relationship, not a weakened one.Last material change: 2026-08-13.
- What it covers
- DefenceCounter-terrorismBasingTrainingCategories the arrangement is documented to include. Not a measure: a relationship covering more of them is described in more detail, not held more firmly.
Summary
Operation Serval, launched on 11 January 2013 at the request of the Malian government, stopped the jihadist advance and recaptured the northern towns; Barkhane succeeded it in 2014 as a regional force headquartered in Chad with its main Malian bases at Gao, Timbuktu and Ménaka, under a 2014 defence cooperation treaty. Relations with the post-2020 military authorities deteriorated over the Wagner deployment and the transition timetable: France announced Barkhane's departure from Mali in February 2022, Bamako denounced the 2014 treaty and the status-of-forces arrangements on 2 May 2022, and the last French elements crossed into Niger on 15 August 2022. Since then the relationship has been conducted through expulsions and detentions rather than instruments — the August 2026 pardon and expulsion of a convicted French embassy official is the latest such act — and no security cooperation of any kind exists.
Why it matters
Every external-actor question in the module descends from this termination: the Russian presence arrived as the French one left, the AES was built by three governments that had each expelled France, and the northern towns Serval recaptured in 2013 are the ones the 2026 offensives took back. The relationship is historical; its consequences are the module's present.
Agreements
- Mali–France defence cooperation treaty · signed 2014-07 · ended 2022-05-02
Denounced by the transitional authorities together with the status-of-forces arrangements for Serval and Barkhane; text not read.
Related events
- Launch of Operation Serval 11 Jan 2013
Military
- Recapture of Gao and Timbuktu Jan – Feb 2013
Military · Territorial change
- France withdraws from Mali Feb – Aug 2022
Military · Diplomatic
- Goïta pardons a convicted French embassy official and expels him 13 August 2026
Political · Diplomatic
Organisations
Structures through which this relationship operates. Not parties to it — the parties are the two actors above.
Places
Markers this module already publishes. This record adds no geographic precision of its own.
What remains unknown
- Any residual intelligence or consular channel between the two governments is not described by either; the record states that the security relationship ended.
Watch questions this relationship bears on
Standing analytical questions whose evidence runs through this relationship, each with its latest review. Derived from the Watch object, never restated here.
All Sahel relationships Open in Explore
Assessed as of — 2026-08 Last reviewed — 2026-09-14