In front of the diplomats in Bamako, Malian Prime Minister explained that French military engagement had allowed jihadists to seize part of the country.
Le Monde with AFP
Malian Prime Minister, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, accused France on Monday, February 7, to have worked to the partition of his country through his military commitment, in a new virulent charge before diplomats in Bamako.
Choguel Kokalla Maïga, head of government installed by the junta arriving in power by two successive putschs in August 2020 and June 2021, took place in France for more than 45 minutes, in front of the diplomats gathered at His demand for the Primature, without going to explicitly request the withdrawal of the Antidjihadist Barkhane force driven by Paris.
“After (one) joy time” In 2013 when French soldiers released the northern Mali falling under the cup of jihadist groups, “the intervention was mocked in a second time in a partition operation In fact, Mali who has (consisted of) the sanctuarization of part of our territory, where terrorists have had the time to take refuge, to reorganize itself to return to strength from 2014, “he said .
In a context of strong tensions between Paris and Bamako, he convened the memory of the Second World War: “did the Americans not release France? (…) When the French ruled that (the presence American in France, NDLR) was no longer necessary, they said to the Americans to leave, did the Americans be able to insult the French? “He said.
“We can not see us”
Since the Organization of West African States (Cédéao) imposed on the 9th of January of the sanctions supported by France and various partners of the country, the junta is arched on the sovereignty of the territory.
The Malian authorities accuse France, former colonial power, to have instrumentalized the Cédéao. The goal is “to introduce ourselves as a pariae, with the unaved and short-term objective of asphyxiate the economy in order to achieve on behalf of whom we know and by proxy for the destabilization and reversal of institutions of the transition, “said Maïga.
The French leaders “never said to their public opinion when they intervened in 2013 that they would divide Mali,” he said. “We can not confess, we can not transform the country into slave; that, it’s over,” he pursued colonization.
m. Maïga also attacked Takuba, European group of special forces initiated by France and intended to accompany the Malian soldiers in combat facing jihadists. Takuba, “It’s to divide Mali. It’s” the sword “, in [Languages] Songhai and Tamasheq, it’s not a name that has been taken by chance,” he said. ” / P>
French legionaries compared to mercenaries
In addition to delaying the return of civilians to power, France and its European and American partners blame the junta for appealing the sulfurous Russian mercenary group Wagner, which she disputes. Before the diplomats, at the forefront of which Ambassador Russian Igor Gromyko, Mr Maïga assimilated the soldiers of the foreign legion, the Corps of the French army, to mercenaries.
He mentioned the reminder in February 2020 – before taking power by Malian colonels – from the Malian ambassador to Paris, Toumani Djimé Diallo. He had provoked the anger of the French authorities by accusing French soldiers of “overflow” in the hot neighborhoods of Bamako. The Malian authorities had recalled the diplomat at the request of France “on the basis of simple declarations (…) on the unorthodox behavior of some French legionaries in Mali, I was going to say mercenaries,” said Mr. Maïga.