France and its European partners "cannot stay with things the way they are" in Mali after the military junta expelled a contingent of Danish troops, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday.

"Given this situation, the breaking of the political framework and the military framework (in Mali), we cannot stay with things the way they are," Le Drian told RTL radio.

He complained of growing "obstacles" placed in the way of European and international forces deployed to fight a jihadist insurgency in the West African country that has spread through the Sahel.

But Le Drian would not say whether Paris was considering withdrawing its Barkhane mission altogether.

"It's not just a French decision, it's a collective one, and we've opened talks with our African and European partners to see how we can adapt our deployment to the new situation," he said.

After repeated demands from Mali's military government, Denmark announced Thursday it would withdraw its newly deployed contingent of some 100 troops.

The junta, which came to power in a coup in August 2020, first asked Denmark to withdraw its forces on Monday, following a deployment it said had been undertaken without consent.

Following a meeting with 15 counterparts from European nations deployed in West Africa on Friday, Denmark's Defence Minister Trine Bramsen said they would decide on their next action in two weeks.

"There is of course a concern from our partner countries, in terms of how they are going to act going forward," Bramsen said, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.

"Already today, there are major obstacles in the way of our partner countries actually being able to do their work in Mali," Bramsen added.

Denmark's contingent had deployed to Mali to join Task Force Takuba — a 900-strong French-led unit launched in March 2020, which brings together special forces from European nations to advise Malian troops and assist them in combat.

Other military contributors are the Netherlands, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy and Hungary.

Last year France announced a reduction of its forces in Mali while building up Takuba.

– 'Disgraceful' –

But relations have been worsening with the military government that took power in 2020.

Russia's Wagner mercenary group has deployed to Mali, the US and others say.

Despite the difficulties, Le Drian, said, "We must keep fighting terrorism… it's spread throughout the region, it's not only present in Mali.

France would work with "everyone who's happy to fight with us", he added.

The minister recalled that 53 French soldiers have died fighting in Mali since Paris first sent troops in 2013, and called a senior junta official's demand for "silence" from Defence Minister Florence Parly "disgraceful".

Mali junta urges French defence minister to keep silent
Bamako (AFP) Jan 27, 2022 –

Mali's junta has advised French Defence Minister Florence Parly to observe the "greatness of silence" after she accused the army leadership in the Sahel state of provocations.

In an interview broadcast on state TV on Wednesday night, junta spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga also accused France of "colonial reflexes" and of using regional organisations to divide Malians.

Relations between Mali's ruling military and France, the former colonial power, have frayed since the army seized power in a coup in August 2020.

But tensions have risen further since December, when the West Africa bloc ECOWAS imposed sanctions, including a trade embargo and border closures, on the conflict-torn nation.

The measures from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were a response to a junta proposal to stay in power for up to five years before staging elections — despite an earlier commitment to hold the vote in February.

On Tuesday, Parly accused Mali's junta of multiplying "provocations" after it asked Danish special forces operating in the country to withdraw.

Maiga responded the following day by saying that Parly should heed the 19th-century French poet Alfred de Vigny's verses on the "greatness of silence."

The spokesman was making an apparent reference to Vigny's poem "La Mort du Loup" (The Death of the Wolf), which contains the line: "Only silence is great; all the rest is weakness."

"When people desperately try to isolate Mali by manipulating sub-regional organisations, one ends up asking who is doing the provoking," Maiga continued, referring to the ECOWAS sanctions.

The junta spokesman also repeated a demand that Denmark withdraw its troops, which have arrived in Mali to join the French-led Takuba force of European special forces.

The Danish contingent arrived in Mali earlier this month, but the junta has said it had never signed off on their joining Takuba.

Mali has been struggling to quell a brutal jihadist conflict that first emerged in 2012, before spreading to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

France has thousands of troops in Mali and neighbouring Sahel countries as part of an anti-jihadist force.