JOHN IRISH and TANGI SALAUN PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron has announced that France's operation battling Islamist militants in the Sahel region of West Africa would come to an end with troops now operating as part of broader international efforts in the region. France, the former colonial power, has hailed some success against Sahel militants in recent months but the situation is extremely fragile and Paris has grown frustrated with no apparent end in sight to its operations and political turmoil especially in Mali. "The time has come to begin a deep transformation of our military presence in the Sahel," Macron told…