Mali's Military Asks French President Macron To Abandon 'neocolonial And Patronizing' Attitude

French President Emmanuel Macron. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

Mali's military asks French president Macron to abandon 'neocolonial and patronizing' attitude

JAKARTA - Mali's army-led government has urged French President Emmanuel Macron to abandon his "neo-colonial and patronizing" attitude as relations between Paris and Bamako deteriorate.

France is reconfiguring its position in the Sahel after falling out with the junta in Mali, the epicenter of a bloody 10-year campaign against extremists in the region.

Mali experienced coups in August 2020 and May 2021, creating a political crisis that coincided with the current security crisis.

France first intervened in Mali in 2013 to fight an insurgency that emerged 12 months earlier. However, he revealed this year that they would withdraw their troops.

"The transitional government demands that President Macron permanently abandon his neocolonial, paternalistic and patronizing attitude to understand that no one can love Mali better than the Malian people," junta spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said on public television. .

Colonel Maiga was responding to remarks made by President Macron last week during a three-day visit to Benin, Cameroon and Guinea-Bissau.

Referring to the situation in Mali, President Macron said West African countries have a responsibility to ensure Malian citizens can express their sovereignty, "building a framework of stability" to enable "effective war against terrorist groups".

President Macron also referred to the alleged deal between the Malian regime and the private Russian security firm Wagner group, which was a key factor that prompted Paris to withdraw its 2,400 troops. Bamako denies deployment by the controversial Wagner group.

During his visit to Benin on Wednesday last week, President Macron branded Russia "one of the last imperial colonial powers", for its invasion of Ukraine.

Since 2021, Mali has been rocked by an insurgency by groups linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS. The violence that started in the north has spread to central and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.