The European Union has reaffirmed earlier decision to suspend the training of Malian military and cease weapons deliveries to the country within the European Peace Facility funding mechanism, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2022) The European Union has reaffirmed earlier decision to suspend the training of Malian military and cease weapons deliveries to the country within the European Peace Facility funding mechanism, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
"We decided to reaffirm our one-month-ago provisional decision of suspending operational training to form units of the Malian armed forces and their national guard. We have also suspended the delivery of military equipment under the European peace facility which was on the way," Borrell said at a press conference after EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
Earlier in May, the Malian transitional authorities announced their decision to break off the defense cooperation with France. Paris, in turn, considered the unilateral decision of the Malian authorities to be unfounded.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the withdrawal of troops from the country will take from four to six months. The Malian government urged Paris to withdraw the troops involved in counter-terrorism operations "without delay."
The French-led military task force Takuba was founded in 2014 by a number of European countries to advise and assist the Malian military in their fight against terrorism in Sahel. On February 17, 2022, France and its allies in Takuba, along with a small number of Canadian servicemen, began a joint troop pullout from Mali due to disagreements with the African nation's transitional government, which came to power as a result of a military takeover.
Malian authorities have since accused France of involvement in mass killings of locals after unearthing a burial site near a former French base. Earlier on Tuesday, the ruling Malian military bloc also accused "a Western nation" of an attempted coup.
