2023-10-11 15:05:03
The junta in power in Bamako canceled, on Wednesday, the authorization given to Air France to resume services to Mali, because according to the Malian authorities the agreement had been given “without consulting the hierarchy”. The airline announced the resumption of flights to Mali from Friday after two months of suspension.
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The junta in power in Bamako has decided to cancel the authorization given to Air France to resume services to Mali, two senior Malian officials and an air transport official said on Wednesday October 11.
“The decision was canceled because the agreement was given without consulting the hierarchy,” said a senior Malian official. Air France announced on Tuesday that it would resume serving Mali from Friday with a plane and crews of a third party company after two months of suspension in a context of tensions in the Sahel and between Bamako and Paris.
The director of civil aviation in Mali was dismissed, said this official without saying exactly what he was accused of.
The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity in the absence of public communication from the authorities. “There will be no Air France flight on Friday. This must be done in a responsible and coordinated manner, all while respecting our sovereignty,” said a second official.
An air transport player confirmed that “the authorization has been cancelled”, without further details. “It is clear that flights will not resume on Friday,” he said.
Successive coups
Air France had suspended its flights to Mali on August 7, which represented 7 flights per week and Burkina Faso (5 flights per week) after the closure of the airspace of neighboring Niger, the scene of a coup. Status July 26. The company cited the geopolitical situation in the Sahel.
The region plagued by jihadism and violence has experienced a succession of military coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina in 2022 and in Niger in 2023. Relations between France, the former colonial power engaged militarily in the region, and the officers now at the head of these three countries have deteriorated significantly.
Forced to bring back its soldiers, its ambassadors and part of the diplomatic staff, faced with hostile demonstrations and attacks against its representations, France extended in August the classification in the “red zone” to the capitals of these three countries, the last islets where she did not formally advise against surrendering.
The Malian junta canceled Air France’s authorization after the company suspended its flights.
Air France announced on Tuesday that it would resume service to Bamako from Paris-Charles de Gaulle at the rate of three direct flights per week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The connection was no longer to be operated with planes from the company, but a Boeing 777-200 ER from the Portuguese company EuroAtlantic Airways and with employees of this company to constitute the crew.
Read alsoAir France restores its service to Mali, after two months of shutdown
An official close to the matter explained the choice of a third-party company and crews by the fact that the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs “formally” advised French people not to go to Mali, including aircrew, due to the security situation.
With AFP
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