Mali: the junta accuses France of having favored the partition of the country – Le Monde

The Malian Prime Minister, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, accused France on Monday February 7 of having worked for the partition of his country through its military commitment, in a new virulent charge in front of diplomats stationed in Bamako.

Choguel Kokalla Maïga, head of the government installed by the junta that came to power thanks to two successive putschs in August 2020 and June 2021, attacked France for more than 45 minutes, in front of the diplomats gathered at his request in Prime Minister, without going so far as to explicitly request the withdrawal of the anti-jihadist force “Barkhane” led by Paris.

” After [un] time of joy, in 2013, when French soldiers liberated northern Mali, which had fallen under the control of jihadist groups, “the intervention was transformed in a second time into an operation of de facto partition of Mali which [consisté dans] the sanctuary of part of our territory, where the terrorists had time to take refuge, to reorganize to come back in force from 2014”he estimated.

In a context of strong tensions between Paris and Bamako, he summoned the memory of the Second World War: “Haven’t the Americans liberated France? (…) When the French judged that [la présence américaine en France] was no longer needed, they told the Americans to leave; did the Americans start insulting the French? »he said.

“We cannot be vassalized”

Since the Organization of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on Mali on January 9, supported by France and various partners in the country, the junta has been bracing itself on the sovereignty of the territory.

The Malian authorities accuse France, a former colonial power, of having exploited ECOWAS. The goal is “to present ourselves as a pariah, with the unacknowledged and unacknowledged short-term objective of asphyxiating the economy in order to achieve, on behalf of who we know and by proxy, the destabilization and overthrow of the institutions of the transition »said Mr. Maïga.

French leaders “never told their public opinion, when they intervened in 2013, that they were going to divide Mali”he said. “We cannot be vassalized, we cannot turn the country into a slave; that’s over”he continued in reference to colonization.

Mr. Maïga also tackled Takuba, a European group of special forces initiated by France and intended to accompany Malian soldiers in combat against jihadists. Takuba, “It’s to divide Mali. It is “the saber”, in [langues] songhaï and tamasheq, it is not a name that was taken by chance”he said.

French legionnaires compared to mercenaries

In addition to delaying the return of civilians to power, France and its European and American partners accuse the junta of having appealed to the sulphurous Russian group of Wagner mercenaries, which she disputes. In front of the diplomats, in the forefront of which the Russian ambassador Igor Gromyko, Mr. Maïga likened the soldiers of the Foreign Legion, a corps of the French army, to mercenaries.

He mentioned the recall, in February 2020 – before the Malian colonels took power – of the Malian ambassador in Paris, Toumani Djimé Diallo. He had angered the French authorities by accusing French soldiers of “overflows” in the red-light districts 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 legionnaires in Mali, I was going to say mercenaries”said Maïga.