The Malian authorities dominated by the military have decided to expel the French ambassador, in a new escalation of the estrangement between Bamako and Paris, announced on Monday the state television. “The Government of the Republic of Mali informs national and international opinion that today (…) the French Ambassador in Bamako, His Excellency Joël Meyer, was summoned by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (and) that he has been notified of the decision of the government which invites him to leave the national territory within 72 hours, ”announced a press release read by state television.
The Malian authorities have justified this decision by recent “hostile” statements by French officials against them. This summons marks a new hardening of tensions between Mali and France, the former colonial power engaged militarily against the jihadists in Mali and the Sahel since 2013. Relations have continued to deteriorate since colonels took over the force in August 2020 the head of this country, plunged since 2012 in a deep security and political crisis. France, for its part, “takes note” of the expulsion of its ambassador to Mali, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared a little later in the day, recalling its solidarity with regard to its European partners and its commitment to continue the fight against terrorism.
“France takes note of the decision of the (Malian) transitional authorities to end the mission of the French ambassador to Mali. In response, France decided to recall its ambassador,” said the Quai d’Orsay. Paris also expresses “its solidarity vis-à-vis its European partners, in particular Denmark”, whose contingent has just been expelled by the junta in power in Bamako.
French Minister for the Armed Forces Florence Parly declared on January 25 that the junta was multiplying “provocations”. His French Foreign Affairs colleague Jean-Yves Le Drian, two days later, called the junta “illegitimate” and its decisions “irresponsible”, after the Malian authorities pushed Denmark to withdraw its contingent of special forces .
The expulsion of Joël Meyer, 60, in post in Bamako since October 2018, “follows the hostile and outraged remarks of the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs recently made, the recurrence of such remarks by the French authorities towards the Malian authorities despite repeated protests”, says the press release read on Malian television, the authorities’ preferred channel of communication.
“Colonial reflexes”
“The government of Mali strongly condemns and rejects these remarks which are contrary to the development of friendly relations between nations”, adds the text, in which Bamako “reiterates its availability to maintain dialogue and continue cooperation with all of its international partners. , including France, in mutual respect and on the basis of the cardinal principle of non-interference”.
Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop warned on Friday that his country did not exclude “nothing” in its relations with France. The junta has entered into resistance in recent months against a large part of the international community and Mali’s partners, who are pressing for a return of civilians to the head of the country.
France and its European allies are also alarmed by the call made, according to them, by the junta to the mercenaries of the sulphurous Russian company Wagner, a group reputed to be close to the Kremlin, accused of abuses in the Central African Republic and engaged in other theaters . The junta persists in denying it.
The junta, which intends to remain in charge of Mali for several years, fought back against pressure by invoking national sovereignty. Malian officials have themselves come down hard on France, as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which imposed a series of severe diplomatic and economic sanctions on January 9. in Mali.
Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, minister and spokesman for the so-called transitional government, on Wednesday delivered a virulent charge against Ms. Parly and France, accused of seeking to divide Malians, “to instrumentalize” sub-regional organizations and to preserve its “colonial reflexes”. He had given “advice” to Florence Parly to keep quiet.