MALI PM MAIGA ACCUSES FRANCE OF SEEKING THE COUNTRY’S DIVISION

Tue 08 February 2022:

The latest flare-up in relations between Paris and Bamako came on Monday, when Mali’s prime minister accused France of attempting to partition the west African country during its military mission there.

Choguel Kokalla Maiga criticized France, the former colonial power in a 45-minute speech to diplomats gathered at his request.

But Maiga stopped short of calling for the departure of the anti-jihadist force that France leads in Mali.

He admitted that France’s military intervention in 2013 had put a halt to a jihadist insurgency that had already taken control of the country’s north and was threatening the south.

But, he argued, the French operation later turned into a de facto partition of the country.

The jihadists were allowed to take refuge in part of Mali’s territory, regroup and return in force from 2014, said Maiga.

And drawing a parallel with the Allied liberation of France at the end of World War II, he added: “When the French judged that (the US presence) was no longer necessary, they told the Americans to go.

“Did the Americans start insulting the French?”

Mali stepped up its denunciations of France after the West African bloc ECOWAS announced sanctions against Mali’s military regime on January 9.

Bamako has accused Paris of having manipulated ECOWAS into its hard line against Bamako, a theme Maiga returned to in Monday’s speech.

The aim had been to present Mali as a pariah, he said.

“We cannot be turned into vassals,” he added. “You cannot enslave the country. That is over,” he said, a reference to the country’s past as a colony of France.

France has already said it is considering the future of the anti-jihadist force – in consultation with its EU partners – after Mali expelled its ambassador last week.

Tensions have been mounting after French President Emmanuel Macron lashed out at the junta’s failure to stick to a timetable for a return to civilian rule.

Celebration

Thousands of anti-French demonstrators have poured into the street of the Malian capital, Bamako, on last Friday (5 Feb.), to cheer at the expulsion of the French ambassador.

The celebrations, where people waved Russian flags and burned cardboard cut-outs of French President Emmanuel Macron, came as tensions between the West African country and its former colonial power have been steadily soaring.

“There are thousands and thousands and thousands of Malians today who say ‘No’ to France. So, what the European Union and France need to do is respect the Malian authorities,” Moulaye Keita, member of the country’s National Transition Council, told reporters.

“They need to understand that the authorities in charge today are the only ones who can speak for our country,” Keita added.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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