FRANCE SUSPENDS JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MALI

France plans to temporarily suspend its joint military operations with Mali after the recent coup in the West African country, the French Defense Ministry said, 2021, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

"Requirements and red lines have been set by ECOWAS and the African Union to clarify the framework of the political transition in Mali," the ministry said in a statement as quoted by news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Pending these guarantees, France ... has decided to suspend, as a precautionary and temporary measure, the joint military operations with the Malian forces as well as the national advisory missions that benefit them."

Last week, Mali's military deposed the transitional government that was due to remain in place until the 2022 presidential election, and coup leader Assimi Goita had himself proclaimed to be the new interim president.

The African Union and the West African economic community ECOWAS suspended Mali's membership following the coup, as they called for the immediate appointment of a new civilian head of state as well as a new transitional government composed of civil society and army representatives.

Mali must also stick to planned elections in February 2022 to put the former French colony back on the path to democracy, ECOWAS said.

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