Another new escalation between Bamako and Paris! Indeed, while it was believed that the tension would fall between the two capitals, and this after the definitive withdrawal of the soldiers of the operation Barkhane from Mali, the authorities of Bamako put the cover back by going on the offensive again .
Too many accusations?
They openly accuse France of violating their airspace and supporting armed terrorist groups, in this case, the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group. They say so in an open letter addressed to the United Nations Security Council, in which they list a series of cases presented as “repetitive and frequent violations of Malian space by French forces […] aerial vectors such as drones, military helicopters or fighter planes”.
In total, around fifty cases have been recorded, according to Bamako, who affirms that these overflights of Malian space “without authorization” ont “served by France to collect intelligence for the benefit of terrorist groups […] and to drop arms and ammunition”.
Of which act! These accusations of support for armed terrorist groups, brought against France, are not surprising. They go back a long time even if, initially conveyed by Malian opinion, they have, this time, the particularity of emanating from the authorities of Bamako.
The latter, we remember, had already announced the color the day after the attack on Tessit [attaque survenue le 7 août, attribuée aux djihadistes dans la ville de Tessit, située dans la zone dite “des trois frontières” entre Mali, Burkina et Niger]which had claimed the lives of 42 soldiers, when they claimed that the attackers had benefited “major support and external expertise”.
French ambivalences
True or false ? Difficult to answer this question. Because France, it must be recognized, has long played such a troubled game within its former colonies that it is difficult to absolve it cheaply.
Isn’t it she who, for a long time, made and unmade presidents in her own backyard, according to her interests? Is it not the same France which, at the start of the Malian crisis, intervened between the Malian army and rebel groups [indépendantistes touareg ayant pris en 2012 le contrôle de trois régions du Nord : Kidal, Gao puis Tombouctou]causing the chaos which subsequently favored the massive arrival of jihadists in the north [nord] Malian [le 11 janvier 2013, la France lance l’opération Serval pour enrayer la progression des djihadistes] ?
We can multiply the examples on the continent where France, in the best of cases, plays the tightrope walkers where we expect it to take a clear position and, in the worst case, blow on the embers.
The stock in trade of anti-French sentiment
However, if it is true that France has always been duplicitous in its relations with its former colonies, this should not constitute a reason for the Malian authorities of the transition to shirk their responsibilities. Because we sometimes have the impression that they exploit the anti-French feeling so much that they have made a business out of it, when they are not sometimes outbidding.
Unless Assimi Goïta and his brothers in arms, who came to power claiming their desire to fight against insecurity, found there a good opportunity to hide their inability to fight terrorism which, today more than yesterday, continues to unjustly mourn families in Mali.
In any case, Barkhane’s soldiers having packed up, it is up to the Malian authorities to assume full responsibility. The time must no longer be for escalation or skirmishes, but rather for a firm commitment to the front in order to reassure the Malians who no longer know which armed group to trust as they suffer martyrdom.
Moreover, the best way for the Malian authorities of the transition to further anger Paris is to prove that Russia-Mali cooperation can succeed in such a short time, where Barkhane has “failed” in nearly a decade.