The rag continues to burn between Paris and Bamako.

The junta in power in Mali announced Monday evening to break the defense agreements with France and its European partners.

This announcement is a new manifestation of the deterioration of relations between Bamako and its former allies in the fight against the jihadists.

Carrying out a threat brandished for months, the authorities dominated by the military who came to power by force in August 2020 announced that they were "denouncing" the Status of Force Agreements (Sofa) setting the legal framework for the presence in Mali of the French Barkhane and European Takuba forces, as well as the defense cooperation treaty concluded in 2014 between Mali and France.

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.

The junta criticizes Paris for its lack of dialogue

The soldier notably 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 with the Malian side", the withdrawal of 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 Mali's national sovereignty, the government of the Republic of Mali has decided to denounce the defense cooperation treaty of July 16, 2014".

The Malian authorities notified this denunciation Monday afternoon to the French authorities and it will take effect six months after this notification, he specified.

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.

Will the denunciation of the Sofa have repercussions on the ongoing withdrawal of Barkhane, announced in February as the culmination of months of escalating tensions?

The question then arises that this withdrawal, a big and dangerous operation, is supposed to take place over four to six months.

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