BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali said on Monday it had asked Denmark to immediately withdraw its soldiers deployed in the country as part of a French-led counter-terrorism mission, saying it had not been consulted and blamed to this deployment for not having respected the protocol.
In a press release, the Malian government expressed its “surprise” at the “deployment on its territory of a contingent of Danish special forces within the Takuba force”.
He said that this deployment was carried out without his consent and without taking into account the protocols in place, and he asked Denmark to withdraw its soldiers immediately.
This decision comes in a context of tensions between Bamako and its international partners since two military coups. The European Union has imposed sanctions on Mali after the transitional government postponed elections scheduled for next month.
Reports of the authorization given in Bamako to the presence in the country of mercenaries from the private Russian group Wagner have fueled tensions.
Denmark has sent around 90 people to Mali, including medics and members of special forces, according to a statement posted on the website of the Danish Ministry of Defense on Monday.
(Report Tiemoko Diallo, with John Irish and Bate Felix; French version Jean Terzian)
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