Macron says still awaiting thanks for stopping Islamists in Sahel

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.