Mali issues the French ambassador 72 hours notice to leave the country

Africa, Europe, News February 1, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Authorities in Mali issued a 72-hour notice to the French ambassador on January 31 to record a response to the French Foreign Minister’s Comments on Mali’s current military government.

Relations between France and Mali have been deteriorating sharply after Mali’s military staged a coup in August 2020, and forced resignation from President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stated on Friday that Mali’s current government is ‘out of control’ and illegitimate. These comments came amid the rising tensions between Mali and other West African states.

France along with the other EU States has thousands of its troops stationed at Mali under the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM-Mali) in order to help its former colony with the wave militant of rebellion that first initiated in 2012. The militant insurgency has since then spread across Mali’s borders into Burkina Faso and Niger.

Following the statements from Le Drian, French Defense Minister Florence Parly also stated on January 29 that France is willing to pull out its troops from Mali if the price is too high.

Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stated that country’s current government was ‘ruling nothing out’ regarding its relations with France.

A response from the Malian government was made against the comments from the French Foreign and Defense ministers through a televised statement, which stated “The Malian government vigorously condemns and rejects these remarks, which are contrary to the development of friendly relations between nations.”

The statement further read, “The government of the Republic of Mali informs the national and international public that today, the ambassador of France in Bamako, his excellency Joel Meyer, was notified of the decision of the government asking him to leave the national territory within 72 hours.”

The Malian military-dominated government has been under a lot of pressure from the international community and especially from European Union and the United States to hasten its efforts in order to carry out a democratic election as promised. However, the Malian government proposed to stay in power for five years before staging an election. The proposal was met with opposition from international as well as regional stakeholders and resulted in ECOWAS imposing a trade embargo on Mali in response to the proposal.

*^{Protestors carrying Russian flags at a rally to support Mali’s junta in May, 2021 (Image Credit: Africanews)}*

Mali has also deployed Russian private military contractors in order to deal with the deteriorating security situation in the country. Deployment of Russian military contractors was also met with a lot of opposition from the EUTM as they said that this deployment is not compatible with their ongoing military missions in the region.