Mali's prime minister lashed out on Saturday at everyone from former colonizer France to the UN secretary-general, saying that the tumultuous country had been “stabbed in the back" by the French military withdrawal.
In the same remarks, Abdoulaye Maiga praised the “exemplary and fruitful cooperation between Mali and Russia.” In his speech to the General Assembly, Maiga slammed what he called France's “unilateral decision” to relocate its remaining troops to neighbouring Niger amid deteriorating relations with Mali's two-time coup leader, Col. Assimi Goita.
While it was Goita and his allies who overthrew a democratically elected president by military force two years ago, Mali's prime minister repeatedly referred to a “French junta” throughout his speech Saturday. “Move on from the colonial past and hear the anger, the frustration, the rejection that is coming up from the African cities and countryside, and understand that this movement is inexorable,” Maiga said.
“Your intimidations and subversive actions have only swelled the ranks of Africans concerned with preserving their dignity.”