Mali receives four helicopters and weapons from Russia

Published on : 10/01/2021 – 14:31

The rapprochement between Bamako and Moscow is becoming more precise every day. The Malian Minister of Defense by interim, Colonel Sadio Camara, on Thursday, September 30, received four military helicopters provided by Russia and praised “the reliability and the seriousness of this partner who has always given us satisfaction”.

This delivery comes at a time of great tension with France, a former colonial power and historic partner which, like many African and European countries, is worried about Mali’s possible recourse to the paramilitaries of the Russian private group Wagner.

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“We are here tonight to receive four Mi-171 helicopters, weapons and ammunition. Weapons and ammunition are donated by the Russian Federation. The four helicopters, new as you can see, have been fully procured. on the national budget “, explained Colonel Camara in a video authenticated by AFP.

“This is the realization of a contract signed in December 2020, which entered into force in June 2021. The extreme speed of the execution of this contract shows the reliability and the seriousness of this partner who has always given us satisfaction in the a framework for win-win exchanges “, underlined the Minister of Defense by interim.

Disapproval of Emmanuel Macron

Shortly before, French President Emmanuel Macron had deemed “unacceptable” the statements of the Malian Prime Minister of the transition, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, equating, on September 25 at the United Nations platform, the reorganization of the French military system in the Sahel to an “abandonment in full flight “from his country.

“It’s a shame and it dishonors what is not even a government”, declared the French president to Radio France Internationale (RFI) on the sidelines of the closing dinner of the Africa2020 Season at the Elysee Palace, estimating that “the legitimacy of the current government”, resulting from two coups d’état, in August 2020 and in May 2021, was “democratically null”.

France undertook in June to reorganize its military system in the Sahel, in particular by leaving the most northern bases of Mali (Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit) to refocus this system around Gao and Ménaka, near the “zone of the three borders. “, on the borders of Niger and Burkina Faso.

This plan foresees a reduction in the number of troops, from more than 5,000 troops at present, to 2,500-3,000 by 2023.

With AFP