The French troops stationed in Mali will be withdrawn if the country lurches towards “radical Islamism”, French President Emmanuel Macron, has said.
He said this on Sunday after a trip to Rwanda and South Africa.
Macron said France will not longer support a country “where there is no longer democratic legitimacy or transition.”
France has about 5,100 troops in the Sahel region under its Operation Barkhane, launched in 2013 to help fight terrorists in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
France and the European Union had on Tuesday condemned the coup by Colonel Assimi Goita that stripped Mali’s interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane of their powers.
Goita forced Ndaw and Ouane to resign on Thursday after detaining them for three days.
He said he seized power because he was not consulted before the reshuffled cabinet that failed to name two prominent military officers as members, including himself.
Goita take over was the second coup in nine month in the poor West Africa country.
The 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has invited Mali’s Goita to Accra, Ghana, for “consultations” ahead of its extraordinary summit on Sunday, aimed to discuss the development in Mali.
