Mali summons French ambassador following criticism from President Macron | New

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The Malian government has expressed outrage and disapproval after Macron suggested his government isn’t even really one.

Mali has summoned the French ambassador to the country to express its outrage over recent criticism by French President Emmanuel Macron of the country’s government, which is dominated by military figures.

Tensions between France and its former colony, Mali, have been high since it emerged that the Sahel state was in talks with Russian mercenaries.

Mali expressed its dissatisfaction to the French ambassador on Tuesday.

These frustrations manifested themselves at the UN General Assembly last month, when Malian interim Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga accused France of some sort of abandonment in the midst of his decision to cut back. military deployment in the semi-arid Sahel region.

Macron later told French media that Maigas’ comments were unacceptable and suggested the Malian government wasn’t even really one because of the coup in Mali led by Colonel Assimi Goita in May.

Outrage and disapproval

The war of words continued on Tuesday when Macron called on the ruling army in Mali to restore state authority in large areas of the country abandoned in the face of the armed uprising.

It is not the role of the French army to replace the non-work, if I can describe it, of the Malian state, he told French media.

Later Tuesday, Mali’s foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop summoned the French ambassador to brief him on the Malian government’s outrage and disapproval over Macron’s comments.

The minister called on the French authorities to show restraint, avoiding value judgments, the statement said, adding that Mali wants a constructive approach based on mutual respect.

France intervened in Mali in 2013 after armed rebels took control of the north the previous year. Since then, Paris has deployed thousands of troops in the Sahel region to fight the armed uprising.

Despite its military presence, violence has spread to central Mali and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

In Mali, thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, while entire swathes of the country have little or no state presence.

In June, France decided to significantly reduce its deployment in the Sahel following a military takeover in Mali in August 2020, which forced President-elect Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Colonel Assimi Goita, who led the August coup, installed an interim government led by civilians. But he then deposed the leaders of this government last May during a second coup.

Last month it emerged that the ruling army in Mali was about to hire 1,000 paramilitaries from Russian private security firm Wagner, which infuriated France.

The French government said that despite the planned withdrawal of its troops, it remained militarily engaged in the fight against the armed uprising in the Sahel.

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