Mali: France and its European partners to decide on the future of the Takuba force

Following the decision of the Malian authorities to expel the French ambassador in Bamako, the French government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said on Tuesday that the “situation cannot remain as it is”. According to him, Paris and its European allies are giving themselves until mid-February to rethink their military device in Mali.
Gabriel Attal said that France “took note” of the expulsion of the French ambassador from Malian territory before specifying that “we recalled our ambassador, we will not wait for him to be expelled to make him return to France.
“The situation cannot remain as it is. Between now and mid-February, we will work with our partners to see how our presence there is evolving and to plan an adaptation,” he said on France Info the day after the announcement of the expulsion of the French ambassador.
The French government spokesman also said that “there is a progressive isolation of Mali. The junta first expelled the ECOWAS representative in Mali. This is not acceptable. We had the opportunity to say so, we are not the only ones to have said so, ECOWAS had the opportunity to say so.
However, he said that “we will continue to fight against terrorism.
For his part, Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, assured that “the fight against terrorism will continue in the Sahel, it will continue with the agreement of other countries in the region, it will continue in support of the countries of the Gulf of Guinea which today see, because of the porosity of the borders, terrorist groups penetrate the north of their territories.
Le Drian said: “Our will is intact and it is not an event due to the irresponsibility, I repeat my words, due to the illegitimacy of a coup government that will make us stop our fight against terrorism,” reiterating the words he said last week in response to which the Malian authorities decided to expel the French diplomat.
According to him, “the only partner today of Mali is Wagner”. The Malian transitional government assures for its part that it is Russian instructors present in the framework of bilateral cooperation.
As a reminder, the French ambassador in Bamako, Joel Meyer, was ordered on Monday to leave Mali within 72 hours, in reaction to comments made by the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Malian government said in a statement.