Mali accuses France of `duplicitous acts’ which it denies

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Mali’s foreign minister is accusing former colonial power France of “duplicitous acts” of aggression and espionage aimed at destabilizing the troubled West African country. The allegations were immediately dismissed by France’s U.N. ambassador as “mendacious” and “defamatory.” The acrimonious exchange at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Mali Tuesday highlighted the depth to which relations between the two countries have plunged since a coup in August 2020 and the August 2022 departure of the last of thousands of French forces that had been in the country at the government’s invitation since 2013 to fight Islamic extremists.