the junta “denounces” the defense agreements with France and breaks the legal framework fixing the presence of Operation Barkhane

Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, government spokesman, made the announcement Monday evening on national television.

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The junta in power in Mali announced, Monday, May 2, to denounce the defense agreements with France and its European partners. She castigates the “flagrant violations” on the part of the French forces present in the country to national sovereignty and “multiple breaches” Malian airspace.

The Malian authorities broke the Status of Force Agreements (Sofa) setting the legal framework for the presence in Mali of the French Barkhane and European Takuba forces, as well as the defense cooperation treaty concluded in 2014 between Mali and France, announced Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, government spokesman, on national television.

France and its European partners formalized their military withdrawal from Mali in February, after nine years of anti-jihadist struggle. “We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de facto authorities whose strategy or hidden objectives we share”, justified Emmanuel Macron. France was no longer welcome in Mali. Demonstrations against the presence of the soldiers of the Barkhane force were more and more numerous. Relations with the military junta, which took power in 2020, were dire.


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