The interim measures announced by the Ministry of Armed Forces are France’s strongest response to the military coup in Mali last week.
As the strongest response to the Malian coup last week, France stated that it will suspend joint military operations with the Malian army in order to “wait” for guarantees that civilians will return to power.
Malian soldiers detained Interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moktar Waen on May 25, and deprived them of their power after a dispute over the reorganization of the cabinet, which plunged the country into further trouble after the military coup in August last year. Uncertainty.
Assimi Goita (Assimi Goita) was the colonel who led the two coups and the deputy in the transitional government established by Ndaw in September. His mission is to lead the country towards full civil rule. He was appointed president on May 28.
In response to the military’s recent seizure of military power, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional group and the African Union have suspended Mali’s participation in their organization and threatened sanctions.
“ECOWAS and the African Union have set requirements and red lines to clarify the framework for Mali’s political transition. The Malian authorities have a responsibility to respond quickly,” the French armed forces said in a statement on Thursday.
“Before obtaining these guarantees, France, after notifying its partners and the Malian authorities, decided to suspend joint military operations with Malian forces and national advisory missions in their favor as a preventive measure and temporary.”
France has deployed approximately 5,100 soldiers in the area, and its so-called Operation Crescent Snow spans five countries in the Sahel-Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The mission is based in Chad and was launched after France intervened in 2013 to help repel fighters occupying parts of Mali.
The ministry stated that the French army will continue to operate alone in the country and will reassess the decision in the coming days.
Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Hack reported in Bamako, the capital of Mali, that the French announcement was a “strike” against Mali’s military rulers and soldiers fighting armed groups in the northern and central parts of the country.
“France is their main partner,” he added. “This is not only the suspension of military cooperation, but also means that hundreds of instructors and trainers in the Malian army no longer cooperate with the Malian armed forces.”
Last weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that if France turns to what he calls “radical Islamism” after the coup, France will withdraw its soldiers from Mali.
“Where is the radical Islamism in Mali and our soldiers? Never,” Macron called last week’s power “a coup in an unacceptable coup,” he told the weekly newspaper Dimanche Daily.
Goita will formally take office as Mali’s Transitional President on Monday. He has served as Vice President since the coup d’état in August last year, which led to the election of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (Ibrahim Boubacar Keita) on suspicion of corruption and The government’s failure to resolve the problem triggered months of protests. Deteriorating conflict in the country.
Under pressure from ECOWAS, the roles of transitional president and prime minister were handed over to civilians before the elections scheduled for February 2022.
On Wednesday, the African Union followed ECOWAS in time out Mali called on the military to “return to the barracks urgently and unconditionally and not to further interfere with the political process in Mali.”
After an emergency meeting on Sunday, ECOWAS in its final communiqué called for the immediate appointment of a new civilian prime minister and the formation of an “inclusive” government.
