MALI ACCUSES FRENCH MILITARY OF VIOLATING COUNTRY’S AIRSPACE

Thu 13 January 2022:

According to Malian authorities, a French military plane breached the country’s airspace while flying from Cote d’Ivoire to Mali and returning on Thursday.

According to the Mali administration, a French military aircraft of the “A400 type” traveled from Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, to Gao, Mali, and back on Tuesday.

“The named aircraft, which committed a clear violation of Mali’s airspace, turned off the radio transponder in order not to be identified, and ceased contact with the flight control centers,” the Malian government said in a statement posted on Facebook by the country’s foreign ministry.

The purported actions of the French troops were described by Malian authorities as a “fraudulent maneuver.” However, thanks to “recently obtained means of national defense,” Malian officials were able to identify the aircraft and monitor its flight path.

Mali’s government decried the violation of airspace and stated that France had decided “to support ECOWAS sanctions, including the closure of member nations’ land and air borders with Mali.”

In November 2021, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop announced that presidential and parliamentary elections initially scheduled for early 2022 in Mali would be postponed until 2025 due to the volatile security situation across the country. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in turn, threatened the Malian military authorities with sanctions, imposing them on January 9.

The Malian authorities called the sanctions illegal and illegitimate. The country’s leadership also stressed that they were not based on any guidelines of the community. In response, the Malian military authorities decided to recall ambassadors to the ECOWAS member states and to close land and air borders with the member-countries of the organization.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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