France on Thursday condemned “rising manipulation of knowledge” about its army withdrawal from its former colony Mali, the place the army junta this week accused it of backing jihadists.
“We condemn the rising manipulation of knowledge, which should not distract any consideration in any respect from the worsening safety and humanitarian state of affairs” in Mali, a overseas ministry spokesman mentioned.
France’s final remaining troops stop Mali this week after a nine-year deployment towards a jihadist insurgency.
The previous colonial energy’s troopers had been as soon as welcomed, however relations have turned bitter following repeated army coups in Bamako.
Malian International Minister Abdoulaye Diop mentioned in a letter to the Chinese language presidency of the UN Safety Council on Monday that France was committing “acts of aggression”.
Diop claimed that French forces dedicated “repetitive and frequent violations” of Malian airspace, even suggesting that the flights had been “to gather intelligence for the good thing about terrorist teams… and to drop arms and ammunition to them”.
“France will proceed its combat towards terrorism within the Sahel and West Africa with out letting up,” the French overseas ministry spokesman mentioned Thursday.
He added that Paris had proven “full transparency with the Malian armed forces and the companions engaged by our facet” in the course of the withdrawal.
The French military mentioned Wednesday that its anti-jihadist Barkhane operation within the Sahel area would retain round 3,000 troops even after the Mali drawdown, lots of them based mostly in Niger.
In the meantime the Bamako junta has introduced in assist from Russian paramilitaries, believed by France to be “mercenaries” from the pro-Kremlin Wagner group.
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