Mali’s foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned France’s ambassador to the country over French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent criticism of the government, reported Reuters.
Tensions between France and Mali have been high since it emerged that Bamako is in talks to recruit Russian mercenaries as Paris reshapes its 5,000-strong counter-terrorism mission in the Sahel region. France has launched a diplomatic drive to thwart it, saying such an arrangement is incompatible with a continued French presence.
Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Maiga has accused France of abandoning it in the joint fight against Islamist insurgents.
Last week, French President Macron rejected the accusations and questioned the legitimacy of the Malian government overseeing a transition to elections after two coups in just over a year.
On Tuesday, Macron called on Mali’s ruling military to restore state authority in large areas of the country abandoned in the face of the armed uprising.
“It’s not the role of the French army to fill in for the ‘non-work, if I may describe it, of the Malian state,” he told French media.
In response, the Malian foreign ministry said it had summoned the French ambassador to inform him of the Malian government’s “indignation and disapproval” of Macron’s comments.
“The minister called on the French authorities to show restraint, avoiding value judgments,” the ministry said in a statement.
Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop urged the two countries to adopt a constructive approach based on mutual respect and prioritize countering the insurgency in the region.
Violence in the Sahel has intensified in recent years even in the presence of thousands of United Nations, regional and Western troops. Despite the huge military presence, violence has spread to central Mali and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
In 2013, France intervened in Mali and deployed thousands of troops across the Sahel region to combat the armed uprising.
