On October 18th, Mali announced that it decided to exercise its right of self-defense against France if the latter continued to undermine the West African country’s sovereignty and national security, according to Reuters.
Minister Abdoulaye Diop claimed that France had violated its airspace and delivered arms to Islamist militants that have been waging an offensive in northern Mali for the past decade.
He then added that “there needs to be a specific meeting of the Security Council which will make it possible for us to bring to light evidence regarding duplicitous acts, acts of espionage and acts of destabilization waged by France.”
France’s representative denied these “defamatory” accusations and said that France had never violated any airspace.
Several reports, including the latest U.N. Secretary-General assessment, accuse Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries, collaborating with the military government, of abusing and killing civilians suspected of colluding with jihadists. Four U.N. peacekeepers were killed in a separate attack in the north of the country on Monday.