President Emmanuel Macron bowed Monday to the « sacrifice » of the soldiers, killed in Mali last week, « dead for France » and « the people of the Sahel », during a solemn national tribute in the courtyard of the Invalides , before handing them the Legion of Honor posthumously.
2,500 people gathered in the courtyard of the Invalides on Monday: the families of the victims, members of the government, but also many anonymous. Access to the building opened to the public from 13:30. Schoolchildren from Pau, Varces and Gap were also present, alongside mayors and flag bearers from the towns of the mourning regiments. « It is the whole nation and all generations that must be involved in this tribute, » explained the entourage of the president.
The former head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy, was present, as well as his successor to the presidency, François Hollande. It was the latter who launched Operation Serval in 2013, which in 2014 became Operation Barkhane. The President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta came to France especially to attend this ceremony.
After witnessing the parade of coffins draped in blue-white-red, Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to these « 13 French destinies, 13 faces, 13 lives given, 13 men that the fraternity of fighting and training (… ) had brought together and that death, forever, united.
Emmanuel Macron then took the floor to pronounce the eulogy of the soldiers. « In the name of the Nation », the president has « bowed to their sacrifice ». He then drew a more intimate portrait of each of these thirteen soldiers, declining the theme of the hero who died for his country, which he has often invoked since the beginning of his five-year term.
« All the others are continuing the fight in the Sahel, I repeat to all and their leaders my confidence, we are thinking of them at the moment when their mission continues, without any truce … (…) They stand with the armies of the Sahel who, too, pay the price of blood. »
The accident caused a lot of emotion in France, where the army had not recorded such losses since the 58 dead of the attack of 1983 against the French headquarters Drakkar in Beirut.
Emmanuel Macron awarded the Knight’s Palms of the Legion of Honor posthumously to soldiers killed while hunting alleged fighters of the Islamic State of the Great Sahara (EIGS).
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