Mali Expels French Envoy over Remarks by Foreign Minister

Joël Meyer given 72 hours to leave country after ‘outrageous comments’ by Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to statement

Joël Meyer, the French ambassador to Mali. Photograph: Nicolas Remene/AFP/Getty

Associated Press in Bamako

Mon 31 Jan 2022 13.00 EST

Mali has told the French ambassador to leave, according to a government statement, amid mounting tensions between the west African country and its international partners.

The action puts into question a French-led anti-terrorist military operation present in Mali at the request of Malian leaders.

A French diplomat said the French government took note of Mali’s decision, and reiterated France’s commitment to the stabilisation and development of the Sahel region, without elaborating.

This latest episode in the diplomatic crisis between Mali and its foreign partners comes days after the Malian government ordered Danish soldiers deployed in the French-led Takuba military operation to leave. The representative for the Economic Community of West African States was also expelled from the country earlier this month after sanctions were imposed on Mali.

Tensions have been mounting in recent weeks as Mali’s interim president, Col Assimi Goïta, has delayed elections until 2026, solidified his control and showed reluctance to uphold international agreements.

The French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said last week that Mali’s leadership was “illegitimate and takes irresponsible measures”.

The Malian government summoned the French ambassador, Joël Meyer, on Monday and said he had 72 hours to leave the country, according to a Malian government statement announced on state television.

“This measure follows the hostile and outrageous comments made recently by the French minister of Europe and foreign affairs and the recurrence of such comments by the French authorities with regard to the Malian authorities, despite repeated protests,” the statement added. The statement did not specify which comments it was referring to.

Relations have also worsened recently after some European countries, including France, expressed concern that Mali’s interim government had accepted the presence in the country of Russian security contractors from the Wagner Group.

Last month, the EU imposed sanctions on eight people and three oil companies linked to Wagner, which is accused of rights abuses in Central African Republic, Libya and Syria.

Mali has been battling an Islamic insurgency in the north since 2012, and in 2013 France intervened in its former colony, again at the request of Malian leaders, to stop jihadists who had seized swaths of the country.