Relations are further strained between France and Mali.

The Malian Foreign Ministry summoned, Tuesday, October 5, the French Ambassador to Bamako, Joël Meyer, to express his discontent and indignation after comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, described as unfriendly and unpleasant.

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

The text castigates the "unfriendly and derogatory remarks" of Emmanuel Macron and expresses a "strong protest against these regrettable remarks", "likely to harm the development of friendly relations", according to the words of the head of Malian diplomacy, Abdoulaye Diop , reported in a press release. 

During his meeting with the French ambassador, Abdoulaye Diop called for a constructive approach from both parties, with priority given to the fight against insurgent groups in the region.

Growing tensions

Emmanuel Macron called on Tuesday for "the state to return" to Mali, in a context of strong tensions with the Sahelian country, where France is in the process of reducing its military system.

"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, a- he said.

From the podium of the United Nations Assembly, Malian Prime Minister Choguel Maïga had criticized France for abandoning Mali in the fight against Islamist groups.

The French president then qualified, last Thursday, of "shame" the accusations of "abandonment in full flight" of Mali by France.

A crisis surrounding the fight against terrorism in the Sahel

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

Relations between Bamako and Paris have continued to deteriorate since the announcement this summer by Emmanuel Macron of a "profound transformation" of the French military presence in Mali, with the objective of ultimately maintaining between 2,500 and 3 000 soldiers in the Sahel, out of the 5,100 currently mobilized within the framework of Operation Barkhane.

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

The Malian junta in power plans 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 continues to warn.

With AFP and Reuters

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