Withdrawal from Mali: France will not tolerate "any ultimatum", assures Castex

The junta presses, but Castex knows how to leave at the right time.

France will not tolerate "any ultimatum" and will not be "sensitive to any pressure" in the management of the withdrawal of its troops from Mali, which will be done "in good order and in safety", assured the Prime Minister on Tuesday before the National Assembly. .

Read also Withdrawal from Operation Barkhane: a bitter departure from Mali

While the ruling junta in Bamako asked Paris on Friday to send its soldiers “without delay”, the Prime Minister replied that “the safety of our soldiers, like that of our nationals, will be our priority”.

“We will not tolerate any ultimatum, and will not be sensitive to any pressure, whatever their source”, hammered Jean Castex, during a declaration before the National Assembly followed by a debate without vote in a stripped hemicycle.

2,400 soldiers

France confirmed on Thursday the gradual disengagement of some 2,400 soldiers deployed in Mali, out of a total of 4,600 in the Sahel, in a context of heightened tensions with the colonels who came to power by force in August 2020.

“On the military level, we will have to close the bases of Gossi, Ménaka and finally Gao.

The maneuver will be carried out in good order and in safety and will last between four and six months, ”explained Jean Castex, taking up the words of Emmanuel Macron, pronounced at the podium of the summit of Europe – Africa.

Returning to the reasons for France's departure after nine years of commitment, Jean Castex crushed a regime which "denied, one by one, its commitments" and which "chosen to rely on a private organization well known to Russian mercenaries, Wagner, whose economic model is based on the predation of the wealth of the countries in which it operates".

VIDEO.

Operation Barkhane: Mali demands a withdrawal "without delay" of French soldiers.

"It is no longer possible today for us to invest in a country whose authorities no longer wish to cooperate with the Europeans and hinder their ability to act", pleaded the Prime Minister.

Defense Minister Florence Parly assured that she was taking “all measures to avoid any contact (…) with Wagner”.

“We are also preparing for the worst” and “are ready to react with the greatest firmness in the event of a threat to the Barkhane force”, she added.

“We will not tolerate any provocation or hindrance during our redeployment,” continued Florence Parly.

Strong criticism from the opposition

In the name of rebellious France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon considered that the intervention in Mali ended in "failure", but added that "we deserve to be respected".

“France did not invade Mali, but came at the call of the Malian authorities, it remained there at the request of the governments” of this country, argued the presidential candidate.

For LR Jean-Louis Thiériot, despite “military successes (…) one can have the impression of a diplomatic failure”.

" How did we get there ?

he wondered.

Jean-Christophe Lagarde (UDI), questioned the “successive strategic hesitations”, ensuring that despite “tactical” military victories, the “assessment of our intervention in the Sahel is to date a failure”.

For the small opposition group Libertés et Territoires, the deputy Frédérique Dumas denounced a “Bérézina”, and among the communists, Jean-Paul Lecoq estimated that “the failure was foreseeable from day one”.

For the boss of the LREM deputies Christophe Castaner "the failure would have been to give up in the face of the difficulty", while Paris is redeploying its forces in the region.

"If there is failure, it is that of the military junta" Malian, added Florence Parly.