“WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE RUSSIA ON OUR SIDE,” SAYS MALI’S FOREIGN MINISTER

Malian Foreign Affairs Minister Abdoulaye Diop has heaped praise on Russia’s flourishing multilateral ties with the African continent, saying Moscow should take credit in that “Russia is not a colonial power and never was”.

Speaking during a media briefing at the First Ministerial Meeting of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Sochi, Russia, Diop said the growing bilateral relations between Moscow and Bamako were based on mutual respect and common interest.

Diop vehemently rejected criticism of his alliance with Russia in the aftermath of a coup in 2021 that precipitated cutting ties with former colonial master France. He accused the West of seeking to undermine Mali on the basis of ditching skewed ties with France.

Mali together with Niger and Burkina Faso are each under the rule of military junta following the overthrow of their governments.

The three have since forged very close ties in the wake of demands to return to civilian rule by the regional bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). After quitting ECOWAS, the three nations formed the Organisation of SAHEL, fostering closer economic and military cooperation that is based on “the attack on one is an attack on all”.

Diop elaborated as follows: “We want genuine partnerships, win-win arrangements. We are also lucky that we have Russia in the UN Security Council.” As a permanent of the UNSC, Russia has a veto power and can therefore thwart any resolution considered by the Organisation of SAHEL to be undesirable.

Mali, Diop added, “did not strengthen partnership with Russia because of what some have promoted as Bamako going in search of a new owner”.

He said: “We view Russia as a partner for cooperation and not according to the logic of the colonial vision. They are attempting to destroy our country only because we have allied with Russia, and we regret that some of our brothers on the continent have also allied with this Western wave, especially in ECOWAS.”

He said Mali want to tell the West that it is achieving its sovereignty on its own, and refuses to have the new colonial logic applied to it.

“Africa is currently finding Russia’s help to get out of this new colonialism – or more importantly, to form a new African alliance that will carry out this task itself,” Diop said.

Diop is one of the more than 50 African foreign ministers or their representatives attending the inaugural two-day partnership meeting in Sochi, Russia. The meeting is being hosted by veteran Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who is scheduled to deliver closing remarks later today.