Malian Prime Minister Shugel Kokala Maiga revealed - in an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera - the details of the French withdrawal from his country, and said that his country had accurate information and evidence that some terrorists in Mali were in contact with France.
He added that his country did not abandon cooperation with France, and that the French wanted to impose on the Malians what they were doing, and that they decided to leave after the arrival of a government that they did not like, as he described it.
"We did not give up cooperation with France, but they wanted to impose on us what we do and what we believe, and we tell them that this era is over, we choose our partners and we choose what we do," Maiga said.
The Prime Minister of Mali pointed out that "the French believe that we will beg them to keep their forces in our country, but we did not care about the step," and "when we informed France that we rejected its dictates, it decided to withdraw from cooperation agreements and withdraw its forces."
The Prime Minister of Mali confirmed to Al-Jazeera that his country considers Russia a reliable partner, but it is not the only partner, but rather has other partners.