Mali has accused France of violating its airspace and arming Islamist rebels in an effort to destabilise the West African nation.ย
Abdoulaye Diop, Mali’s minister of foreign affairs, said in a letter to the head of the United Nations Security Council dated Monday that the country’s airspace had been violated more than 50 times this year, largely by French forces using drones, military helicopters, and fighter jets.
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The letter claims that these incursions were used to arm “terrorist groups”.
However, Mali did not present any proof to support the claims.
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“These flagrant violations of Malian airspace were used by France to collect information for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition to them.”
The French Embassy in Mali responded by taking to Twitter, and saying that “France has obviously never supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, which remain its designated enemies across the planet.”
[๐๐๐๐๐๐] ๐) ๐๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฌ, ๐ฬ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฬ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฌ.
โ La France au Mali (@FranceauMali) August 17, 2022
It claimed that during its nine-year campaign in Mali, 53 French soldiers had perished and that France had killed hundreds of Islamist fighters to increase security for Malians.ย
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The allegations bring the relationship between the two nations to a new low as France withdraws its last troops from Mali.
When in 2013 French forces drove out Islamist extremists from the north of Mali, including the legendary city of Timbuktu, they were hailed as heroes.ย However, a slew of setbacks and continuous militant attacks have strained ties, which have gotten worse after a military coup ousted the government in 2020 followed by an interim civilian cabinet.
(With inputs from agencies)
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