Mali Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop. Archive photoMOSCOW, May 23.Mali does not close the door on relations with Paris and has not initiated their degradation, Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told RIA Novosti. «We do not close the door, Mali has never sought to quarrel with France. Whenever we had to react, we faced which were imposed on us, which we considered offensive. We found that they violate our sovereignty, and we had to take responsibility for making these decisions. Mali does not show hostility, we only want our country to be respected,» the minister said .
There was a shortage of fuel in MaliHe noted that since colonial times, Mali and France have maintained relations at different levels. «There are very strong and intense ties between our and the French population, and there is no particular enmity between the Malians and the French. Despite the depth of the crisis and political disagreements, in Mali, no one attacked French property and the houses of the French, who continue to go about their business,» Diop explained. The Malian Foreign Minister stressed that the crisis in relations between Bamako and Paris is connected exclusively with politics. content/uploads/2022/05/e8420109c8f6a5a1c7a9d4975c16872f.jpg» />Russia will support Mali in increasing the combat capability of the armed forces «Our dispute lies precisely in the plane of politics. Mali is not interested in it, but it has developed because of the reaction to Mali's decisions to ensure its security, regarding how we want the country to be ruled These decisions were not accepted in France,” Diop added. “We believe that France should respect the sovereignty of Mali and the Malians and understand that interaction with Mali can only be within the framework of a mutually beneficial partnership. basis for further cooperation. So far, we cannot be sure that France will act in accordance with such principles,» he concluded. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, following negotiations with his Malian counterpart, said that he considered unacceptable France's desire to dictate Mali with whom to cooperate. Earlier, the Elysee Palace reported that France, its European allies in Operation Takuba and Canada decided to call for a coordinated withdrawal of troops from Mali due to disagreement with the transitional authorities of that country. The withdrawal of French troops from Mali will take four to six months, said French President Emmanuel Macron. After that, the Malian government called on France to withdraw troops involved in Operations Barhane and Takuba «without delay» and under the control of the Malian authorities.Read the full text of the interview >>
EU to cut military training mission in Mali, Borrell says
