France and its allies in a European force will withdraw their troops from Mali after almost a decade, President Emmanuel Macron has announced.
The troops have been involved in the fight against Islamist militants in the country.
Mr Macron said the decision to leave followed a breakdown in diplomatic relations, amid growing hostility from Mali's governing military junta.
The forces will be re-deployed across Africa's Sahel region.
"We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de-facto authorities whose strategy and hidden aims we do not share," Mr Macron told a news conference in Paris on Thursday.
"France has played a unifying role in this international mobilisation in favour of the Sahel," he said. "We will continue to ensure this unifying role."
The planned withdrawal, which is expected to happen over a four- to six-month period, was announced following meeting of European and African leaders at the Élysée Palace on Wednesday night.
