Mali bans French-backed NGOs' activities as Germany plans exit by May 2024

Mali's junta announced on Monday a ban on the activities of NGOs funded or supported by France, including humanitarian groups, amid a worsening row between Paris and Bamako.

The West African nation's interim Prime Minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga justified the move in a statement on social media, calling it a response to France's recent halt to development aid for Mali.

The French foreign ministry said last week it had made the decision, which came three months after finalising its pull-out of anti-jihadist forces from the country, over Bamako's alleged use of paramilitaries from Russian group Wagner.

Bamako denies this, acknowledging only the support of Russian military "instructors".

Maiga spoke in his statement of "fanciful allegations" and "subterfuge intended to deceive and manipulate national and international public opinion for the purpose of destabilising and isolating Mali".

"As a result, the transitional government has decided to ban, with immediate effect, all activities carried out by NGOs operating in Mali with funding or material or technical support from France, including in the humanitarian field," it said.

Last week a foreign ministry source said France would maintain its humanitarian aid as well as financing for "civil society organisations" in Mali.

A German government spokesman also announced on Tuesday that Germany will withdraw its troops from the UN's peacekeeping mission in Mali by May 2024, becoming the latest country to announce its pullout from the jihadist-hit country.

The government will propose to parliament that Germany's commitment to the MINUSMA operation be extended "in May 2023 for the last time by a year, in order to bring this mission to a structured end after 10 years," spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

The decision had particularly taken into account Mali's planned elections in February 2024, he added, following talks between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition partners the Greens and liberal FDP.

The German military have been in Mali since 2013, with a presence of up to 1,400 soldiers as part of the MINUSMA mission, mostly based near Gao in the north.

But they faced increasing difficulties in recent months, repeatedly having to suspend reconnaissance patrols after being denied flyover rights by the ruling junta.

There have been growing tensions between the UN mission and Mali's military rulers following the alleged arrival of Wagner operatives from Russia to bolster government forces.