France suspends counterterrorism efforts with Mali over arrest

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PARIS/DAKAR (Reuters) – France has suspended counterterrorism cooperation with Mali and ordered two staff members of the Malian embassy and consulate to leave, the French foreign ministry said on Friday, while a source with knowledge of the matter said the move came after Bamako’s arrest of a French intelligence agent in August.

A spokesperson for Mali’s foreign ministry declined to comment.

The suspension further exacerbates tensions between Paris and the West African country, after Mali’s military-led government severed military ties with France and turned to Russia for support in fighting Islamist militants.

The man was arrested in August, along with two Malian generals, and accused of participating in a plot to destabilise Mali. A foreign official working on Mali said he was a former French military officer working on terrorism issues.

A source with knowledge of the matter said he was an intelligence agent.

The French foreign ministry declined to comment on whether the man was an intelligence agent. In August it said he was a member of the embassy in Bamako and Mali’s accusations against him were unfounded.

Two staff members from the Malian embassy and consulate in Paris have been declared persona non grata, while Mali declared five French embassy staff members persona non grata, the French foreign ministry added.  

Islamist insurgencies in the north and political instability have fuelled more than a decade of turmoil in Mali, eventually leading to a series of coups in 2020 and 2021 that brought a military-led government to power.

France’s relationship with countries of the Sahel region has deteriorated in recent years as militaries have overthrown civilian governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

(Reporting by John Irish and Juliette Jabkhiro in Paris, and Jessica Donati and Portia Crowe in Dakar; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)