France and its allies in a European force in Mali  have announced they will begin withdrawing troops from the West African country after nearly 10 years of fighting an armed unrest.

A statement signed by France and its African and European allies and published on Thursday said that “multiple obstructions” by the ruling military government meant that the conditions were no longer in place to operate in Mali.

The decision applies to both France’s Barkhane force in the Sahel and the Takuba European force that Paris had been trying to forge along with its allies.

“The political, operational and legal conditions are no longer met to effectively continue their current military engagement in the fight against terrorism in Mali,” the statement said.

The allies, therefore “decided to commence the coordinated withdrawal of their respective military resources dedicated to these operations from Malian territory”.

On his part, French President Emmanuel Macron “completely” rejected the idea that France had failed its former colony, adding: “We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de-facto authorities whose strategy and hidden aims we do not share.”

He said that France’s bases in Gossi, Menaka and Gao in Mali would be closed within the next four to six months.

The withdrawal would be carried out in an “orderly” manner, Macron promised.

The allies, therefore “decided to commence the coordinated withdrawal of their respective military resources dedicated to these operations from Malian territory.”

The announcement was made as President Emmanuel Macron is to travel to Brussels on Thursday for a two-day EU-Africa summit, following an 0800 GMT press conference at the Elysee on the “engagement of France in the Sahel”.

The Mali deployment has been fraught with problems for France. Of the 53 soldiers killed serving in its Barkhane mission in West Africa, 48 of them died in Mali.

France initially deployed troops against jihadists in Mali in 2013 but the insurgency was never fully quelled, and now new fears have emerged of a jihadist push to the Gulf of Guinea.

Even after the pull-out from Mali, however, the allies vowed to remain engaged in fighting terror in other countries including Niger.

“They agreed nonetheless to continue their joint action against terrorism in the Sahel region, including in Niger and in the Gulf of Guinea,” the statement said.

“They have begun political and military consultations with them with the aim to set out the terms for this shared action by June 2022.”