France will withdraw over 2,000 troops from its force fighting extremists in Africa’s Sahel region early next year and instead transfer its military presence to specialized regional forces, President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday.

Macron announced last month that France will reduce its military presence in the future, saying it no longer meets the needs of the region. The French Barkhane force, which operates in Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, also faces opposition from some Africans.

After talks Friday with leaders of concerned African countries, Macron announced that France would reduce its troops to 2,500-3,000 in the long term. Currently, 5,000 troops are deployed in the region.

The French leader stressed that his country will not abandon its African partners and will continue to help them in the fight against groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

“France has neither the inclination nor the desire to stay in the Sahel forever,” Macron said. “We are there because we have been asked to be there.”

French troops have been in Mali since 2013 when they intervened to oust Islamic extremist rebels in northern towns. Operation Serval was later replaced and expanded by Operation Barkhane to stabilize the Sahel.

However, Islamist militants continued to carry out devastating attacks against the army fighting them and, increasingly, against civilians.

Since January, hundreds of people have been killed in various massacres in villages along the Niger-Mali border.

While Sahel governments have accepted French military aid, some critics see its presence as a relic of French colonialism.

Macron said France will focus on completing Operation Barkhane and reorganizing its forces over the next six months.

Over the next six months, the French army will close its Barkhane bases in Timbuktu, Tessalit, and Kidal in northern Mali and shift its presence in the coming weeks to the troubled border region where Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger meet.

In his address to Macron, Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum welcomed French support and military training, but on African terms.

“The most important thing is that France respects the principle of support, cooperation, and help to the armed forces of different countries. We need France to give us what we don’t have. We don’t need France to give us what we already have,” he said, without going into detail. He acknowledged that local forces have shortcomings, but praised their courage in the fight against extremists.

Macron said the future French military presence would aim to neutralize the activities of extremist organizations and strengthen and train local armies. “There is also a security dimension (…) to maintain a permanent readiness for rapid intervention to support partner forces,” notably through military airlift to Niger and Chad.

This new structure, he said, “will be better able to respond to changing threats.” Once the restructuring is complete, “Operation Barkhane will be discontinued,” he said.

Some experts believe France’s decision could be linked to growing political instability in Mali.

Macron’s June statement came days after Mali’s coup leader, Col. Assimi Goita, was sworn in as president of the transitional government, reaffirming his rule in the West African country following the second coup in nine months.

In late June, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to continue the U.N. peacekeeping mission in crisis-stricken Mali. It said the military government needed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for next February.

The council maintained the U.N. force ceiling of 13,289 troops and 1,920 international police but sought advice from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the size of the force because of growing insecurity and physical violence against civilians in central Mali.