Defense agreements: France and Mali disagree on the effectiveness of their denunciation
French soldiers from Barkhane leaving their base in Gao after a four-month mission, June 9, 2021. © AP Jerome Delay
Text by: David Baché
2 mins
Monday, May 2, 2022, the Malian transitional authorities officially denounced the three texts which govern military cooperation between Mali and France, accusing Paris in particular of "
multiple violations
" of its airspace and "
flagrant attacks
" on its sovereignty .
national.
Bamako believes that the Barkhane force no longer has a legal basis to operate in Mali, while Paris denounces "
unjustified
" accusations.
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The Quai d'Orsay denounces
a "
unilateral decision
"
, "
unjustified
" and "
formally contests any violation of the legal framework
" which would be attributable to the Barkhane force.
Bamako blames around fifty violations of Mali's airspace: the one that broke the camel's back was the surveillance by French drones of the Gossi military camp and the accusations of staging a mass grave by the Wagner group, according to the French army.
The French army, which believes that the texts allowed it to deploy its drones in this area.
In its press release, the Quai d'Orsay specifies that "
France will continue the orderly withdrawal of its military presence in Mali
", the soldiers of Barkhane having to finish leaving Mali by the end of the summer.
No legal basis
Except that in Bamako, we don't see things the same way.
Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said on Tuesday evening on state television, ORTM, that "
from this moment, from the denunciation officially announced on Monday, there is no legal basis for France to operate on Malian soil
".
Indeed, the two agreements that govern the deployment of Barkhane and Takuba do not provide for any specific terms in the event of denunciation, but Minister Abdoulaye Diop refers to the Treaty of Vienna which, according to him, applies in this case: in the event
of flagrant violation of the agreements
by one of the two parties, the denunciation has, according to him, the value of immediate termination.
As for the current disengagement, the head of Malian diplomacy specifies: "
the government will ensure that things are done in good order and in the right time (…), we cannot be in a posture of hostility towards vis-à-vis Mali (…) and move freely on Malian territory
.
»
In summary: Paris believes it has at least six months to complete its disengagement in its own way;
Bamako affirms that the end of the two agreements which framed the deployment of Barkhane and Takuba is with “
immediate effect
”.
This raises fears of possible difficulties, to put it mildly, in the coming weeks.
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