Relations between Mali’s military and its European partners are close to breaking down, after the junta failed to organise an election despite two military coups.
On Wednesday, the junta told France to stop interfering in Internal Malian affairs and to keep its “colonial reflexes” to itself.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that the situation had become untenable, as the European allies agreed to draw up plans within two weeks on how to adapt their campaign, which covers Mali and the wider Sahel region, to changing circumstances.
Le Drian has additionally accused Russian private military contractor Wagner Group of plundering Mali’s resources amid heightened tensions between Paris and the country’s military government in recent weeks.
The West African regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has suspended Burkina Faso, making it the third member nation to be punished for a military takeover in 18 months.
Florence Parly, French Minister of Armed Forces told France Inter this Saturday that “the conditions of our intervention, whether military, economic or political, have become harder and harder to manage,” adding that “we do the work we do at the demand of a sovereign state to combat terrorism that victimizes Mali’s population. But we can’t remain in Mali whatever the price.”
Denmark, a major player in the European anti-terrorist effort in the Sahel region, has said this January 27, it will start pulling its troops out of Mali after the West African country’s transitional government this week insisted on an immediate withdrawal.
The move is yet another blow to France, as its security operations in the Sahel region begin to unravel.
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