Information began to circulate on the night of Thursday to Friday on social networks, where several pages deemed close to the transitional authorities published that “two French spies” had been arrested.
Le Monde with AFP
In a context of continuous degradation of relations between Paris and Bamako, two members of the French Embassy in Mali were arrested Thursday in Bamako and released on Friday September 16, several diplomatic sources said.
The two members of the Embassy, of French nationality, were arrested on Thursday in the middle of the day in the city center, while they took photos of a football field to serve as a gathering for the French nationals in the event of forced evacuation, according to a French diplomat in Bamako.
They were “released Friday morning after successful exchanges between the two parties,” said the French source. “Two embassy agents were briefly retained by the Malian authorities. They were released after exchanges between the embassy and the Malian authorities. We have no other comment to make,” also said the quay from Orsay to Paris. A Malian diplomatic source confirmed the information:
“For security reasons, two French nationals arrested and suspected initially spying were released. The necessary checks were made.”
reactivation of links with Russia
Information began to circulate on the night of Thursday to Friday on social networks, where several pages deemed close to the transitional authorities published that “two French spies” had been arrested. Relations between Mali and its sub-regional and Western partners have gradually deteriorated since the 2020 putsch which led to the establishment of a military junta.
Bamako turned away from France with acrimony and vigorously reactivated its historical links with Moscow to try to stem the jihadist wave that ravages the country. The French have just completed their progressive military withdrawal from the country after nine years of engagement.
This brief arrest also intervenes in a diplomatic context tense between Bamako and Abidjan on the fate of forty-six Ivorian soldiers detained for more than two months in Mali.