“France has been at the rendezvous of the fight against terrorism at the request of these countries”, testifies Jean-Yves Le Drian

The military junta in Mali, in power within the country, decided to expel the French ambassador on Monday, January 31. On Malian state television, they justified this decision by explaining that the latest French statements had been hostile since the military seized power. “The junta excludes, it excludes our ambassador, a few days ago, it excluded the Danish special forces who had come at their request to help fight terrorism and accompany the Malian forces for that. It previously excluded the representative from what ‘we call the Community of West African States, which was there to be the spokesperson for these countries’reports Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

For him, this rupture leads France to ask questions about the position of the country in this region of the world. “The fight against terrorism in the Sahel is not only happening in Mali. It is happening in other countries with which we are in discussion today, the decision will be French, but we have to can discuss with all of our partners, whether European partners or African partners, how we are going to behave in order to continue to fight terrorism”adds Jean-Yves Le Drian.

“France has been at the rendezvous of the fight against terrorism at the request of these countries. France has paid the blood price and I would really like that to be respected”adds the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Regarding the situation in Ukraine, he considers that the “situation is very serious”. “There are tens of thousands of Russian soldiers on the borders of Ukraine […] all the elements are in place for there to be an intervention. This is a clear and imminent danger, but at this time we have no information on President Putin’s willingness to take action.“, concludes Jean-Yves Le Drian