Mali "denounces" the defense cooperation treaty signed with France
Colonel Assimi Goïta, president of the Malian transition, during an ECOWAS meeting in Accra, in September 2020. (illustration image).
REUTERS - FRANCIS KOKOROKO
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The ruling junta in Mali "
denounced
" on Monday May 2 the defense agreements signed with France and its European partners.
The decision was notified by the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Chargé d'Affaires of the French Embassy in Bamako.
If the process of disengagement of the French force Barkhane and the European force Takuba from Mali had already begun a few weeks ago, this announcement indicates the level of tension between Paris and Bamako.
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The Malian authorities “
denounced
” on Monday May 2 the defense cooperation treaty, signed on July 16, 2014 with France, as well as the Agreements determining the status of the Barkhane and Takuba forces.
The Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims to have informed the French authorities.
Mali's denunciation of the treaty will officially take effect in six months.
Bamako has also declared null and void the agreements signed with other European countries, including France, within the framework of the “Takuba” operation intended to fight against terrorism in the Sahel.
To justify the decision taken, the official press release castigates "
flagrant attacks
" on the part of the French forces present and "
multiple violations
" of Mali's airspace.
Despite the announcement made by the government, on the ground, things are not going to change much.
Paris had already planned the departure of its troops and the timetable for the withdrawal of the Barkhane force is already underway.
"
There can be at most administrative guerrilla warfare
," says a European diplomatic source.
Mali's grievances
In a press release read on national television, the government spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, invoked the "
flagrant attacks
" on the part of France, engaged militarily in the country since 2013, to national sovereignty.
He cited France's "
unilateral attitude
" when it suspended joint operations between French and Malian forces in June 2021, the announcement in February 2022, "
again without any consultation of the Malian side
", of the withdrawal of the Barkhane and Takuba forces, and the "
multiple violations
" of airspace by French aircraft despite the establishment by the authorities of a no-fly zone over a large part of the territory.
"
In view of these serious shortcomings as well as the flagrant attacks on the national sovereignty of Mali, the government of the Republic of Mali has decided to denounce the defense cooperation treaty of July 16, 2014
", he declared. .
On the other hand, it is with "
immediate effect
" that the Malian authorities denounce the Sofa of March 2013 framing the commitment of the French force Serval, then Barkhane, as well as the additional protocol of March 2020 applying to the European detachments of Takuba , the grouping of European special units initiated by France, he said.
No official reaction was obtained initially in Paris.
Bamako's new exit against France and its partners comes a few weeks after the closure of a major French army camp in Gossi, in the north.
Last week, the French army revealed, with supporting drone images,
the staging of a mass grave in this camp
and accuses Wagner's Russians of being behind the operation.
The Malian government reacted violently on Wednesday, April 27, accusing the French army of "
espionage
", "
subversion
" or even of having violated Malian airspace.
These arguments were again
refuted by France
.
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