Popular demonstrations in Mali are denouncing sanctions adopted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against the military junta this Friday, January 14, as well as calling out French support for the regional organization.
Last week, Mali’s regional neighbors closed their common borders after ECOWAS slapped new sanctions on Bamako for its failure to stick to a timetable for returning to civilian rule.
Protesters flooded the streets denouncing the ECOWAS’s decision and demanding “the end of French interference” in the country.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian declared that “if we are in Mali, we are staying, but not under any conditions.”
Mali has asked France to review bilateral defense accords against the backdrop of growing tensions between Paris and the ruling junta in Bamako, a French diplomat said Monday.
The diplomat told AFP that France was “examining” the request, without detailing its contents.
Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said on Saturday on state television that the accords were “unbalanced,” adding that Mali “cannot even overfly its territory without France’s permission.”
Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop later told media outlets that Bamako had submitted suggested amendments to Paris.
A military operation launched by France in January 2013 to fight jihadists in the African country, known as the Barkhane operation, falls under the bilateral accord reached in March 2013.
France has since deployed thousands of troops in Mali and neighboring Sahel countries in West Africa as part of an anti-jihadist task force.
Even after years of a foreign troop presence, jihadists operating in the Sahel between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have continued with deadly incursions against both security forces and civilians.
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