The French army totally rejects the junta's allegations.
Mali had accused, Tuesday April 26, the army of having violated the air space and spied after the diffusion of images of drones near the base of Gossi.
"When we are accused of violating the airspace and illegally overflying the Gossi area on April 19, 20 and 22, we were within our rights since Gossi was not in the prohibited area. temporary (ZIT)" of overflight, said the spokesman for the general staff, Colonel Pascal Ianni, during a press briefing on Thursday April 28.
According to him, an entire area, including Gossi, was initially banned from overflight on January 13 because mercenaries from the private Russian group Wagner were operating there alongside the Malian armed forces (FAMa).
After the attack on Mondoro (center) during which the FAMa lost several dozen men on March 4, the area was reduced "so that we could carry out reassurance missions for the benefit of the armed forces Malians," he added.
"The Malian staff considers, probably rightly then, that it risks needing support from France", underlined Colonel Ianni.
On April 21, two days after returning its Gossi base to the FAMa, the French army released a video of what it claims were Russian mercenaries burying bodies near the base in order to accuse the France of war crimes in Mali.
These images, taken by a drone, show soldiers busying themselves around corpses which they cover with sand.
In another sequence, we see two of these soldiers filming the half-buried bodies.
The ruling military junta in Bamako on Tuesday accused the French army of violating airspace, "espionage" and "subversion" after the videos were broadcast.
Presenting a letter from the staff of the Malian air force, Colonel Ianni noted that the temporary no-fly zone had again been extended to Gossi since April 27.
Under the agreement for the stationing of French forces in Mali concluded in March 2013, the latter "have complete freedom of movement and action within the framework of the fight against armed terrorist groups", added the Colonel Ianni.
"Until proof to the contrary, we are still in Mali against armed terrorist groups," he insisted.
Relations have been very tense between the two countries since the announcement of the reduction of the French military presence in Mali in the wake of a double coup in Bamako, against the backdrop of the arrival of Wagner's men on field.
The Malian authorities claim not to use mercenaries and speak of state-to-state cooperation with Russia.
"We avoided a major informational attack. This attack was narrowly thwarted. If we had not succeeded in capturing these images, we would have accused the French forces of war crimes", insisted the colonel, brushing aside the accusations of 'spying.
"Let no one be mistaken, we will continue to fight" against misinformation, he added.
He noted in passing the "contradictions" and "inconsistencies" of the Malian military authorities, who referred, according to him, to a tweet broadcast on the evening of April 20 to incriminate the French army but "said that the mass grave was discovered on the 21st".
(AFP)
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