Mali’s ruling military junta on Monday said it was breaking off from its defence accords with France, blaming the French troops for violating its national sovereignty, reported France24.
“For some time now, the government of the Republic of Mali notes with regret a profound deterioration in military cooperation with France,” Malian government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said in a televised statement on Monday.
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.
The Malian authorities said they had informed Paris of the decision on Monday. France is yet to give an official reaction to the junta’s announcement.
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.
In a statement, the Malian junta said the drone illegally flew over the Gossi base on April 20, the day after French forces handed the site back to Mali.
Last week, Mali’s military announced an inquiry into the discovery of a mass grave at the Gossi base. The army claimed it found the grave the day after the images were published and claimed the bodies’ advanced stage of putrefaction ruled out Malian soldiers’ responsibility.
France also continues to object to the presence of mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked security firm Wagner in Mali.
