France firmly rejected Monday, September 28 the "
unacceptable
" and "
indecent
"
accusations
of "
abandonment
" of Mali brought by the Malian Prime Minister to the UN platform, which amount to "
wiping their feet on blood French soldiers
”, one of whom died on Friday.
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"
There is no French disengagement, I want to start by re-establishing untruths (...) When we have 5,000 soldiers and we disengage from three rights-of-way, and we intend to 'leaving several thousand more, when state-of-the-art armored vehicles are deployed in the Sahel (...) this is not the normal attitude of a country which intends to leave
", argued Monday the Minister of the Armies Florence Parly during a conference in front of the students of Sciences Po Paris.
Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga on Saturday accused France of an "
abandonment in flight
" with the reorganization of its military presence in the Sahel, and thus defended Bamako's decision to initiate discussions with society Russian private paramilitary Wagner.
It's a lot of hypocrisy, it's a lot of bad faith, a lot of indecency especially because these comments were made on Saturday September 25, but on Friday September 24 a 52nd French soldier gave his life to fight terrorism in the Sahel.
Florence parly
"
The objective
" of recourse to Wagner "
is not to keep the commitments made to the international community
" providing for the military junta to return power to civilians by organizing elections in February 2022 in Mali, commented the French minister. "
I have the impression that the date
" on which the Malian authorities, who came to power via a coup in August 2020, committed themselves "
does not suit them perfectly, and that they want to prolong the thing. But from there to wiping your feet on the blood of French soldiers, it's unacceptable,
”she said.
"
The transformation of our military system in the Sahel is neither a departure from Mali, nor a unilateral decision and it is wrong to say the opposite,
" the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured earlier Tuesday.
The adaptation of this system was the subject of "
consultations with the Sahelian and Malian authorities since the Pau summit (France) in January 2020
".
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Paris undertook in June to reorganize its military system in the Sahel, notably by leaving the northernmost bases of Mali (Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit) and by planning to reduce its personnel in the region by 2023 to 2500-3000 men, compared to more than 5,000 today.
French force commander Barkhane also denied any lack of consultation and any abandonment. "
The plan to leave Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu (...) was drawn up with the heads of state of the G5 zone
" (G5 Sahel: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad), declared General Laurent Michon during a trip to Nouakchott, Mauritania, stressing that the peacekeepers of the UN Mission (Minusma) and the Malian army remained present in these three places.
France warned Bamako that the involvement of the Wagner group in Mali would be incompatible with its military presence and that of other countries and international organizations on the ground. Paris also reiterated Monday at the UN its call for the organization of legislative and presidential elections on February 27 in Mali, in accordance with the commitments made to the international community by the junta which took power in this country. The Malian prime minister told AFP on Sunday that they could be postponed for a few weeks or months.
"
It is imperative to respect
" this schedule, declared in a video pre-recorded and broadcast to the UN General Assembly the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, responsible for delivering the annual speech of France within of this international forum.