Mali accuses French army of espionage and subversion
A French army Tiger helicopter on the Gao military base.
December 5, 2021 (illustration).
AFP - THOMAS COEX
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Malian government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga issued a press release on Tuesday (April 26th) accusing the French army of espionage and subversion.
Since the beginning of the year, the transitional government has noted more than 50 deliberate cases of violation of Malian airspace, in particular by the French armed forces.
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"
Any overflight of Malian airspace is subject to obtaining an authorization issued by the Air Force
", explains Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga.
But according to the Malian authorities, this rule is regularly broken.
They deplore in particular falsifications of flight documents, landings of helicopters in localities outside aerodromes and flights of planes or intelligence drones, to “
carry out activities considered as espionage
.
»
And it is of this, precisely, that they accuse the French army.
On April 21, it broadcast videos shot the day before by a drone, above the Gossi base recently transferred to the Malian army.
These images show, according to the French general staff,
Russian mercenaries, burying bodies
and filming in order to accuse France of war crimes.
“
The French forces were guilty of subversion by publishing false images mounted from scratch
,” explains the spokesperson for the Malian government.
Malian authorities meanwhile said last week that they discovered
a mass grave near the Gossi camp
.
On Tuesday, the public prosecutor announced the opening of an investigation.
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