French citizen arrested in Mali coup plot ‘innocent’

A French citizen was arrested in Mali for allegedly taking part in a plot against the country according to government officials, with France responding saying that the man was an accredited embassy employee, and that any accusations against him are false.

According to Africanews, August 17th, Yann Vezilier was arrested alongside two generals and other military personnel and accused of taking part in a scheme that would destabilise Mali.

According to the government in Mali, Vezilier is a French intelligence agent who mobilised a variety of civil society and military actors to the effort, saying that his arrest was consistent with international law, as his actions violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Meanwhile, France’s Foreign Ministry described the whole situation as a “misunderstanding” and are currently in talks with Malian officials to obtain his immediate release.

Mali’s opposition figures in exile have also dismissed the allegations of a plot, and said that the military government should produce evidence of these claims.

The Patriotic Resistance Front-a group composed of politicians living abroad- demanded the release of those arrested in response, as well as a return to constitutional order.

The country has experienced more than a decade of internal turmoil politically and in terms of security, in particular with the rise of insurgent islamist militias in the country’s north.

Such instability eventually led to a series of coups in 2020 and 2021 which brought the current president Assima Goita to power as the country’s new president.

The coup d’etat was then followed by Mali severing military ties with its former coloniser France in 2022, instead seeking support from Russia.

Since then, the government has cracked down on political freedoms, seeking to target former political leaders such as the former Prime Minister Moussa Mara, amid a complete shake-up of its previously central political alliances, as the military leadership looks to extend its power. The arrest and prosecution of Mara-one of the last remaining opposition figures in the country-represents the slimming-down of political expression, his trail is due to take place on September 29th.

Goita’s government promised the return of elections, but has since been granted a renewable 5-year term, as well as suspending political activities across Mali.

The news of an attempted plot mirrors how the current leadership came to power, with grievances emerging from an inability to deal with islamists in the North. Attacks by these militias have created a dire situation that Goita and his leadership have struggled to combat, with even the Africa Corps-a private military force controlled directly by the Russian government-suffering losses and struggling to contain the situation.

The military leadership is facing mounting pressure from below in their own ranks, their own citizens, domestic jihadist operations and now-if the reports are to believed- significant foreign interference. The collective load this now places on Mali’s President and his allies may be reaching existential.

With political authority being consolidated and opposition voices being curtailed-contrary to the supposed aims of Assima Goita’s Coup-the question now becomes about wether or not the current leadership in Mali will be able to wrangle the political turmoil and regain control in the North. If not, the military leadership could face a similar fate to their predecessors.

Africanews via Reuters, Maghrebi.org