Mali which has been estranged from France since last year appears to be in a fresh row with its former colonial power over development aid.
The response from Bamako has been swift following an announcement by France suspending development aid to the West African country.
The Malian authorities have announced an immediate ban on all activities carried out by NGOs operating in Mali with French funding or material or technical support, including in the humanitarian field with links to France.
According to the statement issued by transition prime minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, the decision by the junta takes into account the principles defined by the government articulated around the sovereignty of Mali.
It also said the decision was out of respect for the choices of partners made by Mali and taking into account the interests of the Malian people.
Recalling that the Paris declaration “is nothing but a subterfuge intended to deceive national and international public opinion for the purpose of destabilising and isolating Mali,” Bamako said that “France has notified” since February 2022, “through diplomatic channels the suspension of its development cooperation”
“We take note of and regret the decision of the Malian transitional authorities,” the French Minister of Foreign Affairs reacted a day later, expressing regret over the decision ”that unfortunately comes at the expense of the Malian population.”
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mali received $121 million in official development aid from France in 2020.
The United Nations estimates that 7.5 million people in Mali need $4.5 million this year.
But the Malian government sees its decision as “contributing to the restoration of our dignity scorned by a French junta that specialises on the one hand in granting dehumanising aid to our people and used as a means of blackmailing the government, and on the other hand in actively supporting terrorist groups operating on Malian territory.”
This episode is the umpteenth in a series of acts on both sides for several months between France and Mali, within the context of a rapprochement between Russia and the Sahelian country plagued by a security crisis for a decade.
After the French president’s June 2021 announcement to rejig Operation Barkhane in the Sahel, the Malian junta accused Paris of ”abandonment in mid-air” the fight against the jihadist.
In the wake of this, the junta hired mercenaries of the private Russian military company, Wagner, if Western claims are anything to go by.
Since then, Bamako’s relations with Paris had deteriorated rapidly, accelerating the departure of French soldiers and the official end of Barkhane in November.
AC/cgd/lb/as/APA