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Protesters holds a banner reading "Thank you Wagner", the name of the Russian private security firm present in Mali, during a demonstration organised by the pan-Africanst platform Yerewolo to celebrate France's announcement to withdraw French troops from Mali, in Bamako, on February 19, 2022. The French president announced on Febraury 16 the withdrawal of troops from Mali after a breakdown in relations with the nation's ruling military junta. France first intervened in Mali in 2013 to combat a jihadist insurgency that emerged one year prior. The French pull-out after nearly a decade is also set to see the smaller European Takuba group of special forces, created in 2020, leave Mali. (Photo by FLORENT VERGNES / AFP via Getty Images)