An official reaction had been expected for more than twenty-four hours. The ruling junta in Bamako asked France on Friday February 18 to “withdraw without delay” its soldiers from Mali, the day after the announcement by Paris and its partners of a staggered withdrawal over the next few months.
In a statement read on national television, the spokesman for the government installed by the military, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, described the announcement of the French disengagement as “flagrant violation” agreements between the two countries. He also considered that the results of nine years of French engagement in Mali had not “not satisfactory”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the closure of French bases still present in Mali would take “four to six months”. This request for immediate withdrawal “under the supervision of the Malian authorities” from the colonels who came to power by force in August 2020 is a new challenge to the former French partner, after months of rising tensions.