Mali junta ends defence agreement with France

 

Mali’s ruling junta announced on Monday it was disengaging from its defence agreement with France, condemning “flagrant violations” of its national sovereignty by the French troops.

This announcement is the latest confirmation of deteriorating relations between Mali’s junta and France.

“For some time now, the government of the Republic of Mali notes with regret a profound deterioration in military cooperation with France,” spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said in a televised statement.

Maiga cited multiple instances where French forces are claimed to have violated the country’s airspace. He referred to the June 2021 decision by France to end joint operations with Malian forces.

The Malian authorities said they had informed Paris of the decision on Monday afternoon but so far France has not responded officially to this announcement.

Tensions between France and the junta in Mali, which seized power in August 2020, had been rising for some time.

The agreements Mali has ended were those that set the framework for France’s intervention in Mali in 2014.

They were signed a year after French troops deployed a large force to help Mali’s armed forces stop a militant offensive there.