PARIS (Reuters) – Mali’s capacity to fight against Islamist groups on its territory its now Mali’s own problem, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday, a day after his government announced it was withdrawing from Mali.
“This is a Malian problem, it is not a French problem any more”, said le Drian in an interview with LCI television.
France and military allies said on Thursday they would leave Mali after almost a decade based there fighting Islamist insurgents around the Sahel, moving instead to Niger despite public disenchantment with Paris’ role in the region.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; editing by John Stonestreet)
