Mali army administration forces restriction supported by France with 'immediate effect'

(MENAFN) Mali’s army administration has forced a restriction on the activities of NGOs funded or backed by France, the latest rise in a growing conflict between both nations.

“The transitional government has decided to ban, with immediate effect, all activities carried out by NGOs operating in Mali with funding or material or technical support from France, including in the humanitarian field,” according to a declaration issued by acting Premier Col. Abdoulaye Maiga late on Monday.

He stated the step was a reaction to France’s latest move to stop improvement help to Mali.

A French Foreign Ministry declaration last week blamed Mali’s régime of having “allied itself with the (Russian) Wagner military company,” claims that Maiga refused as “fanciful and unfounded.”

He called it “a subterfuge intended to deceive and manipulate national and international public opinion for the purpose of destabilizing and isolating Mali.”

Maiga said that Mali has “no regret” over the stop in help by “a French junta specialized in giving dehumanizing aid.”

France used its assistance activities as “a means of blackmailing the government and … in the active support of terrorist groups operating on Malian territory,” he further noted.

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