Mali junta condemns 'hateful and defamatory' remarks by French President Macron
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian government has condemned "with the utmost rigour" the "hateful and defamatory remarks" of French President Emmanuel Macron, which, it said, could arouse ethnic hatred.
The Malian government said during the French President's recent visit to Guinea-Bissau, he accused the Malian authorities of exactions against civilians, precisely the Fulani community.
"These serious accusations are likely to arouse ethnic hatred and undermine living together, cohesion and harmony between Malians," the government's spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, said in a statement read on Malian television on Sunday.
It said President Macron should "remember the negative role and responsibility of France in the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994".
The Malian authorities also reproached the French president for his "insinuations" about the presence of a Russian paramilitary group in Mali.
The Malian government, which described the French president's remarks as "subversive", asked him to "abandon his neo-colonial, paternalistic and condescending posture" and to understand that "no one can love Mali better than Malians themselves".
"These subversive remarks by the French president vindicate the transitional government in Mali, which rightly ended defence cooperation with France for its unsatisfactory results in the fight against terrorism," the statement said.
"France, which has always worked for the division and partition of Mali, is in no position to give lessons to Mali," it added.
The Malian government stressed that the strengthening of social cohesion remains one of the non-negotiable priority objectives and it will spare no effort to succeed in this mission.
It said that the defence and security forces, which are "multi-ethnic, professional, republican and resolutely committed, remain a solid bulwark for the defence of the homeland and the preservation and protection of all Malians in their ethnic and religious diversity".
-0- PANA GTJSG/BBA/MA 1Aug2022
