France presence in Mali is designed to secure nuclear activities, expert says

The Head of the French Nuclear Researches Observatory Stéphane Lhomme has shed light on the real drives behind the French military operations in the Sahel region discrediting , thus, François Hollande and the French official who have denied the existence of any hidden purposes in the intervention in Mali.

In a declaration to the French newspaper “ Le Monde” Lhomme said” France has intervened militarily in the Malian desert regions to secure a berth in the these areas known for its rich natural resources including gas, oil and gold and most importantly to protect its activities in uranium production based in the neighboring country Niger”.

The interlocutor has indicated that France has no immediate interest in Mali for the time being because the country is not producing gold, but things could change in the future because the former Malian president Toumané Touré has granted permits to France and Canada to extract oil and gas in various areas based in the north of the country.

He put the focus on “ Taoudini” oil field, a 5.1 million square kilometre zone shared between Mauritania, Mali and Algeria in the wake of the discovery made by the Algerian company Sonatrach.

The Algerian company was forced to stop the drilling operations after the military coup conducted by Amadou Sanjou last March.

To recall, the French giant group “Total” has announced the selling in 2008 of 20% of its shares in the exploration of Taoudini oil field to the Qatari company Qatar Oil International. The expert has indicated that the French authorities aim at securing its Uranium activities through “Areva”.

One of the fields will be operational by 2020 and is due to produce some 5000 tons yearly making of it the biggest uranium field in Africa but not far from Gao which was recently controlled by the terrorist groups.