Celebrations as Mali severs ties with France

Celebrations erupted in Mali on Friday as the transitional government of the West African country expelled its former colonial master, France, from its territory.

People in the capital, Bamako, waved Russian flags and burned cardboard cut-outs of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The transitional government, last Monday, had given a 72-hour ultimatum to Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Foreign Minister, to leave the country over “hostile and outrageous” comments, it said in a statement read on national television.

According to Al Jazeera, Mr Le Drian said on Friday that Mali’s military government was “out of control” amid escalating tensions between the West African state and its European partners following two coups. He also called the military government illegitimate.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Saturday that French troops would not stay in Mali if the price was too high.

The EU retaliated on Friday by imposing sanctions on five senior members of Mali’s transitional government, including interim Prime Minister Choguel Maiga.

The five designated people are subject to a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through EU territories, and an asset freeze,” a statement from EU states said on Friday.

“The EU sanctions are ratcheting up the pressure, but simply follow what the Africans have done themselves,” Terence McCulley, former US ambassador to Mali, told Al Jazeera. “I think dialogue is still an option and still the preferred option with both ECOWAS and the international community.”

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Adama Ben Diarra, a sanctioned member of the transitional government, described the restricting measures as an honour, saying that expelling the French ambassador is only the latest step in getting rid of Paris’ influence.

“It is an important step in the fight, but the victory must go all the way, the next step must be the departure of French forces and then we will start the move towards economic and monetary sovereignty,” Al Jazeera quoted him as saying during a rally on Friday.

Addressing the deployment of Russian mercenaries to Mali, Mr Diarra said: “For the security of my people, I am ready to make a pact with Satan to drive out France and its terrorist allies.”

Mali continues to face challenges in trying to contain an armed rebellion that erupted in 2012.

The most recent being the August 2020 coup and another in May 2021. The military promised to hold elections in February 2022 and return to civilian rule but reneged, proposing to hold power until 2025.