The Government of Mali, under control of the military after the 2020 coup d’état, has ordered this Monday the expulsion of the French ambassador, Joël Meyer, to whom the authorities give a period of 72 hours to leave the country, according to a statement official read on national television. This drastic measure comes as a reaction to recent statements in the French media by the French Foreign Minister, Jean Yves Le Drian, in which he accused the military junta of being “illegitimate” and of “taking irresponsible measures”. The French ambassador was summoned this Monday to the Foreign Ministry, where he was informed of his expulsion from the country.
“This decision comes after the hostile and outrageous comments made recently” by the aforementioned minister, according to the statement, “and the repetition of such comments by the French authorities regarding the Malian authorities despite repeated protests” by part of the Government of Mali, who considers these opinions “contrary to the development of friendly relations between nations”. Despite this, the official note maintains, the Malian Executive maintains its “availability to continue dialogue and cooperation with all its international partners, including France, in mutual respect and on the basis of the cardinal principle of non-interference” .
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Colonel Assimi Goïta led a coup against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in August 2020 and managed to overthrow him, but especially after the second coup also led by Goïta in May 2021, that frustrated the transition to democracy that had been set in motion. French President Emmanuel Macron was especially upset by this second military coup and, days later, announced the partial withdrawal of the Barkhane operation to fight against jihadist terrorism, which has come to have some 5,500 soldiers in the Sahel, many of them them in Mali, and that has already been reduced to about 4,800 with the forecast to reach about 3,000 in 2023.
The turn of the Malian military junta towards Russia and, more specifically, the start of negotiations with the private company Wagner linked to the Kremlin for the deployment of mercenaries in Mali, marked the beginning of hostilities. For the French authorities, who claim that members of Wagner are already in Mali, this is a red line and they have repeatedly stated so. However, the Malian transitional government denies said deployment and assures that they are Russian Army instructors within training missions similar to the one carried out by the European Union since 2013.
After the second coup d’état, the Malian military promised to maintain the transition calendar ―negotiated with the Economic Commission of West African States (Cedeao), which established elections in February―, but last December they broke this promise and announced his intention to continue in power for another six months to five years. Cedeao’s reaction was to approve harsh sanctions against Mali, such as blocking all foreign financial aid or closing borders, measures that France and the EU supported. In parallel, and after eight years of military intervention without clear results in the face of advancing jihadism, a strong anti-French sentiment has been spreading throughout the region and is behind the popular support for the coups in Mali and Burkina.
The tension continued to rise
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Last week, the Malian authorities ordered the departure of a hundred Danish soldiers deployed in the framework of the European operation Takuba in support of Barkhane, alleging that they had not been consulted. Likewise, the junta announced the revision of the military agreements with France. From Paris, and in different statements to the French media, Minister Le Drian has denounced in the last four days the illegitimate nature of the military junta, which he accused of trying to perpetuate itself in power with the excuse of jihadism. He also assured that Wagner had come to Mali to plunder the country with the approval of his authorities. For her part, Florence Parly, Defense Minister, assured that they could not continue in Mali “at any price.”
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