French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said any agreement between Mali's military junta and Russia's Wagner Group would be "incompatible" with a French force remaining in the country.

Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Le Drian said on Tuesday, "Any intervention by a group of this kind in Mali would be incompatible with the work of the coastal and international partners in Mali."

The minister stressed the "excesses" of the mercenaries of this Russian group in Syria and Central Africa, and said that they had committed "violations of various kinds", considering that signing an agreement with them "cannot lead to any solution."

According to a French source close to the file, the ruling military council in Mali is studying the possibility of concluding a contract with the Wagner Group to deploy a thousand Russian mercenary fighters in Mali to form its armed forces.

The financial authorities acknowledged that they had held talks with the Russian group, but stressed that they had "not signed" any agreement.

For her part, French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said that any agreement between Bamako and the Wagner Group would be a source of "great and contradictory concern" to continue France's military involvement in the Sahel region, which has been going on for eight years.

"If the financial authorities enter into a contract with the Wagner Group, it will be of great concern, and it will be in contradiction to everything we have done over the years and everything we seek to do in support of the countries of the Sahel," the minister added.


Difficult French position

Reuters had reported that the transitional government in Mali after the coup, which is dominated by the army, is about to sign an agreement with the Wagner Group, providing for the training of the army and the protection of senior officials in the country.

The agency indicated that about 1,000 mercenaries could go to Mali, in return for paying $10.8 million per month.

Even if the Ministry of Defense of Mali announced that it was not aware of such an agreement, but it was open to talks with everyone, it would put France's presence in the region in a difficult situation.

Relations between Paris and Bamako have been severed since the overthrow of Ibrahim Abu Bakr Keita's administration in August 2020, and France suspended its military operations in this country for a period of time.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would end Operation Barkhane - in which more than 5,000 French soldiers participate in Mali - in the first quarter of 2022, but stressed that it would not withdraw from the region.

Wagner mercenaries operate in a number of African countries in order to train local armies and protect VIPs, fight "rebels" or armed groups, and protect gold, diamond and uranium mines in hot spots.