“The dissatisfaction (of France) with the desire of the Malian authorities to ask foreign security forces for help is nothing but a recurrence of the colonial mentality that the Europeans should have rid themselves of a long time ago. “, estimated the head of the Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.
The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov on Friday denounced the “colonial mentality” of Paris and Europe in Mali, receiving his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop in Moscow. “The dissatisfaction (of France) with the desire of the Malian authorities to ask foreign security forces for help is nothing but a recurrence of the colonial mentality that the Europeans should have rid themselves of long ago. “, said Sergei Lavrov during a press briefing. The Russian minister warned against “a real danger of the appearance” in Mali of “enclaves of anarchy where fighters from illegal armed groups will act freely”.
“This threatens the territorial integrity of the country, and we have already said this several times to our French colleagues,” he said. “We understand, but do not appreciate the attempts of France and other EU countries to claim a dominant role in Africa and other regions”, underlined Sergei Lavrov, judging “inadmissible” that the France seeks to “dictate its conduct in Mali, with whom it can communicate”. The head of Russian diplomacy assured that Moscow was ready to provide support to Bamako “to increase the combat capabilities of the Malian armed forces”, particularly in the training of soldiers and police.
Bamako says for its part to have recourse to simple Russian advisers
He also assured that Moscow would continue to deliver wheat, mineral fertilizers and petroleum products to Mali, while Russia is under sanctions because of its offensive in Ukraine. These retaliatory measures have undermined Russia’s export capacities, and fueled fears of a global food crisis.
Paris decided in February its military withdrawal from Mali, in a degraded security context and against a backdrop of tensions between France and the military junta in power, accused by Westerners of using the services of the private Russian military group Wagner, considered an armed arm of the Kremlin. Bamako says for its part to have recourse to simple Russian advisers.
Source: Europe1
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