In addition to the tensions with Algeria, French diplomacy must put out another fire in Africa and once again with a strategic partner.

Bamako in fact summoned the French ambassador on Tuesday following remarks deemed “regrettable” by President Emmanuel Macron against the military junta in power in Mali.

"The minister called on the French authorities to exercise restraint, avoiding value judgments," commented the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.

The text castigates the “unfriendly and derogatory remarks” of Emmanuel Macron and expresses a “strong protest against these regrettable remarks”.

Malian diplomacy therefore calls on France to "concentrate on the essential, in particular the fight against terrorism in the Sahel".

Russia in ambush

Several statements in recent days have increased tensions between the two countries. "The state must return with its justice, its education, its police everywhere, in particular in Mali", where whole swathes of territory remain on their own in the face of jihadists, inter-community tensions and trafficking, declared Tuesday Emmanuel Macron. Before that, the French president had qualified last Thursday as “shame” the accusations of “abandonment in full flight” of Mali by France brought by the transitional Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga to the UN platform.

In the Sahel, where it has intervened militarily since 2013 against jihadist groups, France undertook in June to reorganize its military system with a reduction in its personnel by 2023 to 2,500-3,000 men, against more than 5,000 today.

The French also see their influence contested in Mali, in particular by Russia.

The Malian junta in power is indeed planning to use the services of Russian paramilitaries from the sulphurous private company Wagner.

However, a presence of these “mercenaries” would be “incompatible” with the maintenance of the French military presence in Mali, Paris constantly warns.

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  • Bamako

  • Ambassador

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  • Mali

  • Diplomacy

  • Emmanuel Macron

  • World