Mali Detains French National Over Alleged Espionage
(MENAFN) A French citizen has been taken into custody in Mali on charges of espionage, with authorities accusing him of working for his nation's intelligence agency in a scheme to unseat the transitional administration of the West African country.
Ties between Bamako and Paris have sharply declined in recent times, as Mali has alleged that France is backing terrorist elements in order to undermine the region’s military-led governments.
According to a statement released on Thursday by Security Minister Daoud Aly Mohammedine, the individual, Yann Vezilier, was apprehended on August 1 as part of a “small group of marginal elements” within Mali’s armed forces.
These individuals are accused of engaging in “criminal activities aimed at destabilizing” the nation.
The minister alleged that Vezilier had been “acting on behalf of the French Intelligence Service,” which had brought together political figures, civil society members, and military officers to support a plot to “break the dynamic of rebuilding Mali.”
Among those reportedly involved are two senior military officials — Abass Dembele, a former regional governor of Mopti, and Nema Sagara, a brigadier general in the air force and one of the few senior female officers in Mali’s armed forces.
These individuals are said to have played key roles in the broader alleged conspiracy.
Mali remains under the leadership of interim President Assimi Goita, a colonel in the army who orchestrated a military coup in 2020 that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
He later led another power grab in May 2021, deposing the transitional president Bah N’Daw.
Earlier this week, unverified accounts suggested that a significant number of Malian military personnel had been arrested for their involvement in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Goita’s regime.
A news outlet, citing unnamed security sources, reported that at least 55 soldiers had been detained, whereas another news agency estimated the number to be between 36 and 40.
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