“A junta in the service of obscurantism”: at the UN, Mali violently attacks France – Teller Report

Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, acting Prime Minister of Mali, violently attacked the French government on Saturday at the UN podium, which he described as a “junta”, as well as several African officials and the Secretary UN general. Referring to the withdrawal of French soldiers from the Barkhane force in Mali, he said during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly that Mali had been “stabbed in the back by the French authorities”. “The French authorities, deeply anti-French for having denied universal moral values ​​and betrayed the heavy humanist heritage of the Enlightenment philosophers, have been transformed into a junta at the service of obscurantism”, declared, three times, Colonel Maïga appointed Acting Prime Minister in August by the leader of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta. Accusing France of “neocolonial, condescending, paternalistic and revanchist practice”, he on the other hand hailed “the exemplary and fruitful cooperation relations between Mali and Russia”. of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who affirmed, a few days ago during an interview with RFI and France 24, that the 46 Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since the beginning of July were not “mercenaries”, contradicting the Bamako accusations. “Let me express my deep disagreement with you following your recent media outing”, launched the colonel, describing the affair as “bilateral and judicial”. While this affair turned into a diplomatic crisis between the two neighboring countries, he considered that this “does not fall within the remit of the Secretary General of the United Nations”. “Mr. Secretary General, Mali will draw all the legal consequences of your actions”, he added, before repeating his request for a reform of the UN peacekeeping force in Mali. , the Minusma, under review by the UN. Colonel Maïga also sharply criticized several African officials, such as Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, whom he accused of not being Nigerien, or the Ivorian head of state Alassane Ouattara, describing the “maneuver” allowing a president to “keep power for himself and his clan” by changing the Constitution to obtain a third term. He also accused the current president of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), Bissau-Guinean Umaro Sissoco Embalo, of “mimicry” of the United Nations. “It is important to tell him that the secretary general of the United Nations is not a head of state and the current president of ECOWAS is not a civil servant. Therefore, it would be appropriate that he does not trivialize ECOWAS”, he said. he declares.