Mali prime minister lashes out at France, UN, regional bloc

By KRISTA LARSON
Associated Press

Mali’s prime minister is lashing out at everyone from the U.N. secretary-general to former colonizer France. In a speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga took aim at what he called a “French junta.” He says that Mali was “stabbed in the back” last year when France made the unilateral decision to relocate its troops to Niger. The last French troops departed Malian soil in August after months of deteriorating relations with the two-time coup leader who holds power in Bamako. Maiga, a lieutenant colonel in the army, also said that the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA, has failed to achieve its objectives nearly 10 years later.