Mali’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdoulaye Diop said the military government would exercise its right to self-defence if France continued to undermine the West African country’s sovereignty and national security.
Speaking at a United Nations Security Council briefing on Mali in New York, Diop repeated allegations that France had violated its airspace and delivered arms to Islamist militants that have been waging an offensive in northern Mali for the past decade.
But France has denied this as its relations with Mali have soured since an August 2020 coup and it is withdrawing troops sent in 2013 to help fight the insurgency.
Diop said, “There needs to be a specific meeting of the Security Council which will make it possible for us to bring to light evidence regarding duplicitous acts, acts of espionage, and acts of destabilization waged by France.
“The government of Mali reserves the right to exercise its right to self-defence if France continues to undermine the sovereignty of our country and to undermine its territorial integrity and its national security”.
Further, Diop denied human rights violations by the Malian army reported by the U.N. and other groups.
