Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, Mali’s acting prime minister, violently attacked the French government on Saturday at the UN podium, calling it a “board”, as well as several African officials and the UN secretary-general.
Referring to the withdrawal of French soldiers from the Barkhane force in Mali, he said during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly that Mali had been “stabbed in the back by the French authorities”.
“The French authorities, deeply anti-French for having denied universal moral values and betrayed the heavy humanist heritage of the Enlightenment philosophers, have become a board at the service of obscurantism,” Colonel Maïga, appointed interim, declared three times. Prime Minister in August by the head of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta.
Accusing France of “a neo-colonial, condescending, paternalistic and vindictive practice”, he praised, on the other hand, “the exemplary and fruitful relations of cooperation between Mali and Russia”.
“My deep disagreement”
The interim prime minister has rejected the statements of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who said a few days ago during an interview with RFI and France 24 that the 46 Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since the beginning of July were not “mercenaries”, contradicting those of Bamako. accusations
“Suffer that I express my profound disagreement after your recent media outing,” the colonel launched, describing the matter as “bilateral and judicial.”
Although this case became a diplomatic crisis between the two neighboring countries, he considered that this “is not the responsibility of the Secretary General of the United Nations.”
“Mr. Secretary General, Mali will draw all the legal consequences of its actions,” he added, before reiterating his request for a reform of the UN peacekeeping force in Mali, Minusma, which is being reviewed by the UN. .
Several African officials criticized
Colonel Maïga also harshly criticized several African leaders, such as the president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, whom he accused of not being Nigerien, or the head of state of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, describing the “maneuver” that allows a president “keep power for himself and his clan”. by amending the Constitution to obtain a third term.
He also accused the current president of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), Bissau-Guinean Umaro Sissoco Embalo, of “mimicry” of the United Nations.
“It is important to clarify that the Secretary General of the United Nations is not a head of state and the current president of ECOWAS is not an official. Therefore, it would be appropriate for him not to trivialize ECOWAS,” he said. .
Source: BFM TV
