BAMAKO, Mali
France's Armed Forces Minister arrived in Mali on Sunday to pressure the military junta to end talks to bring Russian mercenaries into the country and push it to keep a promise to return the country to constitutional order in February.
Diplomatic and security sources have told
Reuters that Mali's year-old military junta is close to recruiting the Russian
Wagner Group, and France has launched a diplomatic drive to thwart it, saying
such an arrangement is "incompatible" with a continued French
presence.
West Africa's main political bloc, ECOWAS, as
well as other allies combating militants in the Sahel region, have also
expressed concerns over the potential deal.
But Mali's junta which seized power in August
2020, has dug in, noting that France has begun scaling down its decade-old
operation against insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State across the
region to include more European countries.
On Sunday, Mali's foreign ministry called
objections from neighbour Niger to the prospect of a deal with Wagner
"unacceptable, unfriendly and condescending".
The visit by Florence Parly to Mali is the
highest-level trip by French officials since the talks with Wagner emerged.
An official from the French Armed Forces
Ministry told reporters ahead of the visit that Parly would stress "the
heavy consequences if this decision were to be taken by the Malian
authorities."
She would also underscore the importance of
keeping to the calendar for the transition to democracy leading to elections in
February 2022, the official said.
French officials describe the relationship with
the junta as "complicated", although it still relies on Paris for
counter-terrorism operations.
Paris said on Thursday it had killed the leader
of Islamic State in Western Sahara in northern Mali.
Parly earlier on Sunday was in Niger to lay out
plans to reshape its operations in the region.
The French army started redeploying troops from
its bases in Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu in northern Mali at the start of the
month, French army sources have said.
France wants to complete the redeployment by
January. It is reducing its contingent to 2,500-3,000 from about 5,000, moving
more assets to Niger, and encouraging other European special forces to work
alongside local forces.
The European force in the Sahel so far
comprises about 600 troops from nine countries. - Reuters
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