by Mali has accused France of violating its airspace and delivering arms to militants in an attempt to destabilise the West African country, the latest in a barrage of accusations that have marked the bitter end to their once close relations.
Reuters reports that in a letter to the head of the United Nations Security Council dated Monday, Mali’s foreign affairs minister, Abdoulaye Diop, said its airspace has been breached more than 50 times this year, mostly by French forces using drones, military helicopters and fighter jets.
“These flagrant violations of Malian airspace were used by France to collect information for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition to them,” the letter said.
Mali provided no evidence of its allegations.
France has spent a decade and billions of dollars to stamp out Islamist militants, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, in its former colony.
“France has obviously never supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, which remain its designated enemies across the planet,” French Embassy in Mali said in a Twitter thread.
It said that 53 French soldiers had died during its nine-year mission in Mali and that France had killed hundreds of Islamist fighters in order to improve security for Malians. France has also suffered Islamist attacks at home, it added.
Source: radionigeria
