These are the details that were due to be worked out on 16 February when President Emmanuel Macron hosted the presidents of G5 Sahel members Mauritania Niger and Chad Mohamed Ould Ghazouani Mohamed Bazoum and Mahamat Déby...

He has extensively consulted Sahelian partners particularly his trusted allies Presidents Mohamed Bazoum Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani and Roch Kaboré of Niger Mauritania and Burkina Faso respectively over the shape of the redeployment (AC Vol 62 No 15 Burkina without Barkhane)...

Visiting NATO's Brussels headquarters on 14 January Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani forcefully and publicly praised Barkhane...

Abdel Aziz is believed to be furious at what he sees as betrayal by the ruling Union Pour la République (UPR) which he founded and current President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani whom he picked...

Originally arranged as a half-year review of progress since the last such gathering at Pau in southern France in January the Nouakchott summit was a chance for Mauritania's new president Mohamed Ould Ghazouani to demonstrate the continuation of the Sahel-focussed strategy established by his predecessor Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz despite their deep domestic political differences (AC Vol 61 No 2 Sahel summit's fighting talk and Vol 60 No 23 Démarches et détente)...

The regional summit in the Mauritanian capital on 30 June started with a note of collective self-congratulation as President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani spoke of reinforcements for Operation Barkhane and a more coherent command structure for the regional G5 Sahel security force...

Like leaders across the region President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is preoccupied with the fight to contain Covid-19 of which there have so far been seven confirmed cases and one death...

It could indicate an unprecedented liberalisation of the political scene by President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani...

But even as this reinvigorated agenda was adopted in Pau – with President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani inviting participants to Mauritania for a review of progress in six months' time – the 'Coalition for the Sahel' faces a major new worry...