This is what Abdoulaye Diop, the foreign minister of the military junta, writes in a letter to the country holding the presidency of the Security Council, China, in which he says that the country has “several proofs” that France is collaborating with jihadists.
French warplanes are said to have repeatedly violated Mali’s airspace and then to have “gathered information for terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel and dropped weapons and ammunition for them”, writes Diop in the letter – which was sent on Monday, the same day the last French forces left the country.
Since 2013, France has helped Mali fight an insurgency by jihadist-motivated groups, but last June it ended its joint efforts with Malian forces. In February, France ordered all forces to leave Mali following a breakdown in relations with Mali’s military junta that took power in August 2020.
The French embassy in Mali has responded to Diop’s accusations on Twitter. “France has of course never supported these terrorist groups, directly or indirectly, and they remain our direct enemies throughout the world,” it writes and continues:
“53 French soldiers have died in Mali in the last nine years. Their mission was above all to fight terrorist groups and thereby improve security for Malians”.