Still awaiting thanks for stopping Islamists in Sahel, Macron says

PARIS (Reuters) - France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he was still waiting for Africa's Sahel states to thank Paris for stopping them falling into the hands of militants and he dismissed suggestions his country had been forced out of the region.

Speaking to French ambassadors at an annual conference on foreign policy for 2025, Macron said France had been right to intervene in 2013 to fight Islamist militants even if those same states had now moved away from French military support.

"I think that they forgot to thank us, but that's ok, it will come in time," Macron said ironically.

French troops have in recent years pulled out of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso after successive military coups and are in the process of withdrawing from Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

"None of them would have a sovereign state if the French army had not deployed in this region," Macron said.

Macron dismissed the notion that Paris had been kicked out of the region, saying it had decided to re-organise its strategy.

"No, France is not on the back foot in Africa, it is just lucid and reorganising itself," he said.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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