According to the media, Mali’s Prime Minister, Abdoulaye Maiga lashed out at France, the UN secretary-general, and Mali’s neighboring nations during his speech at the UN and declared that the tumultuous country had been stabbed in the back by the French military withdrawal.
According to Maiga, France’s unilateral decision to relocate its troops to neighboring Niger has caused serious challenges for the African nation to tackle the threat from religious extremists. According to the reports, the Malian Prime Minister directly criticized the UN Secretary-General Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the fourth sentence of his speech to the General Assembly. Interestingly, Mali’s Prime Minister repeatedly quoted “French junta” throughout his speech and moved on from the colonial past and the anger and rejection that spills from the African cities about former colonial power.
The Republic of Mali, a landlocked nation in west Africa is well known for its gold reserves in the world. The country owes the third largest gold reserves and faces global interference, regional rivalries, and went through political and economic instability most of the time in its history. Mali fell under France’s control during the late nineteenth century while it gained independence from French occupation in September 1960. The Malian nation suffered political instability due to recurrent military coups, and continuous hide-and-seek between democracy and dictatorship after freedom from French occupation. Mali’s battled an armed insurgency in the Northern Toureg region, while a communal conflict in Mopti province and radical Islamist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS remained great challenges for the government. Presently, Mali is being ruled by a military dictator Colonel Assimi Goita who invaded the democratically elected government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in September 2020.
According to the reports, France deployed its troops in Mali along with UN Peace Keepers to curb the rising activities of ISIS and al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups under an UN-led mission commonly known as MINUSMA in 2012. Although Mali has largely controlled terrorism still, a moderate threat exists in different parts of the country. Despite the fact that France assisted the African nation in fighting terrorism and French troops stayed in Mali near a decade because Malian generals were well versed in sabotaging the country’s democracy but did not have the required skill to defeat militancy. The ruling Military Junta objected to France’s military presence in the country which led to France’s relocation of its troops to neighboring Nigar, which caused security problems for Bamako.
Presently, Mali’s ruling dictator has no working relations with his neighbors including Nigar, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, while his aides are also criticizing the United Nations and France who supported their nation in hard days. Meanwhile, Mali’s ruling Junta carried out personal attacks on Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum and termed him a foreigner who claims to be from Niger. In fact, an unelected and unlawful ruler needs some grounds for his survival in the chair, as Colonel Goita faces tough resistance from democratic forces in the country hence he instigated rifts with his neighbors and global powers. So, public anger and global attention could be diverted towards border disputes and external affairs from internal unrest and political instability. Although, the Mali dictator uses the newest tact to betray his countrymen world is familiar with the totalitarian code.
