The French government on Tuesday said Mali’s decision to renounce a military cooperation agreement with France is “unjustified,” reported The BBC.
France “considers that this decision is unjustified and absolutely contests any violation of the bilateral legal framework”, a French foreign ministry spokesman told reporters in Paris on Tuesday.
The statement comes after Mali’s ruling junta announced on Monday it was disengaging from its defense agreement with France, condemning “flagrant violations” of its national sovereignty by the French troops.
The military junta noted a “profound deterioration of the military co-operation with France for some time now”.
In a televised statement, Malian government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga cited several instances of French forces having violated the country’s airspace. He pointed out the French government’s decision taken in June 2021 to end joint operations with Malian forces. He also mentioned France’s decision taken in February to pull out its troops from Mali.
Notably, France had already been pulling troops out of the country in the wake of two recent coups.
The French spokesperson added that France will continue the withdrawal in good order of its military presence in Mali, in line with the commitments it has made to its partners.
France is the former colonial power in Mali. Tensions between France and Mali’s military junta, which seized power in August 2000, have been deteriorating for some time.
Last week, Mali accused the French army of spying after it used a drone to film what France alleged was mercenaries burying bodies near a military base. The French army had shared a video it said showed Russian mercenaries covering bodies with sand to falsely accuse the departing troops of war crimes. Two soldiers could be seen filming the half-buried corpses.
France also continues to object to the presence of mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked security firm Wagner in Mali.
