French military accused of violating Mali airspace

Members of the Malian Gendarmerie parade celebrates the army's national day in Kati on January 20, 2022. FLORENT VERGNES AFP BAMAKO Mali's military rulers accuse the French army of repeatedly violating a controlled airspace over the country's centre and north to spy on its forces, the latest escalation between Paris and Bamako.

The military government said over 50 breaches of the West African country's airspace had been recorded since the start of the year, mainly by French-operated aircraft.

ALSO READ: At least 27 soldiers were killed in central Mali attack.

Relations between France and the military junta in its former colony have pushed it to withdraw troops that were deployed in 2013 to push back militants linked to al Qaeda and later to Islamic State. Militants have regained ground.

A violation, the statement said, was the illegal flying of a drone over the northern military base of Gossi on April 20, a day after France handed the site back to Mali as part of its ongoing troop withdrawal.

It said French aircraft flew back and forth over a convoy of Malian troops heading for Gossi on April 21.

One Twitter user claimed that he was a retired Mali officer accusing French troops of covering corpses with sand last week.

Its army said that the men in the drone video were Russian mercenaries accused of helping Mali's military junta fight militants and summarily execute civilians in the process.

Mali's army last week said its soldiers discovered a mass grave near Gossi after taking over the base and that the putrefied state of bodies showed the killings had occurred much earlier in the day.

The government said in Tuesday that French forces are guilty of subversion in publishing fake mounted images in order to accuse the Malian army of killing civilians.

France's military and foreign ministry didn't respond immediately to requests for comment.

The French decision to pull out of Mali came as relations with the junta that seized power in 2020 have deteriorated.

On Wednesday, Mali's High Communications Authority announced the final suspension of French state-funded international news outlets RFI and France 24, a decision that the France Medias Monde organization said it would contest.

In March, the junta suspended broadcasts because of false allegations of army abuses.