France firmly rejected, Monday, September 27, the "unacceptable" and "indecent" accusations of "abandonment" of Mali brought by the Malian Prime Minister at the UN platform, which amount to "wiping his feet on the blood of French soldiers, "one of whom died on Friday.

"There is no French disengagement, I want to start by re-establishing untruths (...) When we have 5,000 soldiers and we disengage from three rights-of-way, and we intend to leave several thousand more, when the latest armored vehicles are deployed in the Sahel (...) this is not the normal attitude of a country which intends to leave ", pointed out argue the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, during a conference in front of students from Sciences Po Paris.

Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga on Saturday accused France of an "abandonment in flight" with the reorganization of its military presence in the Sahel, and thus defended Bamako's decision to initiate discussions with the Russian private paramilitary company Wagner.

"It's a lot of bad faith, a lot of indecency"

"It's a lot of hypocrisy, it's a lot of bad faith, a lot of indecency especially because these remarks were made on Saturday September 25, but on Friday September 24 a 52nd French soldier gave his life to fight the terrorism in the Sahel ", indignant Florence Parly.

"The objective" of resorting to Wagner "is not to keep the commitments made vis-à-vis the international community" providing for the military junta to return power to civilians by organizing elections in February 2022 in Mali, commented the French minister.

"I have the impression that the date" on which the Malian authorities, who came to power via a coup in August 2020, committed themselves "does not suit them perfectly, and that they want to prolong the But from there to wipe your feet on the blood of French soldiers, it's unacceptable, "she said.

"The transformation of our military system in the Sahel is neither a departure from Mali, nor a unilateral decision and it is wrong to say the opposite," the spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry said earlier Tuesday.

The adaptation of this device was the subject of "consultations with the Sahelian and Malian authorities since the Pau summit (France) in January 2020".

Paris began in June to reorganize its military system in the Sahel, notably by leaving the northernmost bases of Mali (Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit) and by planning to reduce its personnel in the region by 2023 to 2,500- 3,000 men, compared to more than 5,000 today.

French force commander Barkhane also denied any lack of consultation and any abandonment.

"The plan to leave Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu (...) was drawn up with the heads of state of the G5 zone" (G5 Sahel: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad), declared General Laurent Michon during a trip to Nouakchott, Mauritania, stressing that the peacekeepers of the UN Mission (Minusma) and the Malian army remained present in these three places.

"Imperative" to respect the election calendar

France warned Bamako that the involvement of the Wagner group in Mali would be incompatible with its military presence and that of other countries and international organizations on the ground.

Paris also reiterated Monday at the UN its call for the organization of legislative and presidential elections on February 27 in Mali, in accordance with the commitments made to the international community by the junta which took power in this country.

The Malian Prime Minister told AFP on Sunday that they could be postponed for a few weeks or a few months.

"It is imperative to respect" this schedule, declared in a video pre-recorded and broadcast to the UN General Assembly the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, responsible for delivering France's annual speech within this international forum.

With AFP

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