Following the withdrawal of French forces from Mali and the rise of a military junta, relations between France and its former territory have deteriorated vertiginously.
In March, Malian authorities declared that they would block French state-media in the country, citing the media’s supposedly inaccurate reporting concerning the murder of civilians, including 71 deaths for which the Malian army have been held responsible.
Contributing to the ongoing tension, French forces now stand accused of illegally flying a drone over a military base during its handoff to Malian forces, the latest instance of over 50 violations of Mali’s air space, according to the country’s authorities. The drone in question filmed what has been claimed to be the burial of bodies in a mass grave nearby.
Following the discovery of these bodies, Mali claims that their advanced state of putrefaction rules out Malian involvement, given that the base was only recently ceded by France.
French military sources, for their part, have produced footage of what they allege are Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group arranging corpses in such a way as to frame the withdrawing French of war crimes.
