BAMAKO (Reuters) -France’s Armed Forces Minister arrived in Mali on Sunday to pressure the military junta to end talks to bring Russian mercenaries into the country and push it to keep a promise to return the country to constitutional order in February. The visit by Florence Parly to Mali is the highest-level trip by French officials since the talks with Wagner emerged. French officials describe the relationship with the junta as “complicated”, although it still relies on Paris for counter-terrorism operations. Paris said on Thursday it had killed the leader of Islamic State in Western Sahara in northern Mali. The French army started redeploying troops from its bases in Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu in northern Mali at the start of the month, French army sources have said.

Source: MetroXpress September 19, 2021 20:15 UTC