Mali: meeting Assimi Goïta-Emmanuel Macron in Bamako on December 20
French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the Malian transition Assimi Goïta.
© AP - RFI editing
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The French president will meet Colonel Assimi Goïta, president of the Malian transition.
This is the first time that the two heads of state will speak face-to-face after several telephone exchanges.
The meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 20 in Bamako, according to information from
Jeune Afrique
, which RFI was able to confirm with the Elysee.
There will be no shortage of topics for discussion, with Emmanuel Macron.
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It is in a tense diplomatic context that
Assimi Goïta
will receive Emmanuel Macron in Bamako, the Malian capital, in a few days. The French president is expected there on Monday, December 20. End of Operation Barkhane, potential arrival of
Russian paramilitaries in the country
or even duration of the Malian transition: there will be no shortage of subjects among them.
For several months, the two Heads of State have been competing in kindness by interposed declarations.
Mali, via its Prime Minister of the transition Choguel Maïga, had qualified the end of Operation Barkhane as "
abandonment in full flight
" before the United Nations.
Words qualified as "
shameful
" by Emmanuel Macron, who then called into question the credibility of the Malian government.
In the process, the regular allusions of the Malian authorities to the possible arrival of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group further aggravated the tensions.
These military subjects will be at the heart of this exceptional meeting between the two heads of state.
One of the French president's objectives will also be to convince Assimi Goïta not to resort to the paramilitaries to fight terrorism.
And after this meeting in Bamako, during which the end of the transition and the date of the next elections will also be mentioned,
Emmanuel Macron
will then go to Gao to share a Christmas dinner with the French soldiers still there.
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Mali
France
Assimi Goïta
Emmanuel Macron
G5 Sahel
Sahel