At the outset, I would like to discharge the pleasant duty of sharing with the General Assembly the warm greetings of the Malian people, who are rich in cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, as well as those of His Excellency Colonel Assimi Goita, President of the Transition and Head of State.
The election of Mr. Csaba Korosi to the presidency of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session and the conclusion of the work of the seventy-sixth session of the General Assembly skilfully led by his predecessor Mr. Abdulla Shahid of the Republic of Maldives give me the happy opportunity to extend to them the warm congratulations of all of Mali. Allow me also to reiterate to our Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, our great appreciation for the commendable efforts he continues to make towards the realization of the noble objectives of our shared Organization. We are convinced that he is a friend of Mali and the Sahel.
Since friendship is based on sincerity, I would like to express my profound disagreement with his recent media appearance, during which he took a position and spoke on the case involving the 46 Ivorian mercenaries, which is a bilateral and judicial matter between two brotherly countries. It is obvious that the legal character of the offences arising from this case does not fall within the remit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In Mali, our Administration does not work on the basis of oral proceedings or press statements, and, accordingly, we scrupulously adhere to the note verbale issued by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), contained in document MINUSMA/PROT/ NV/226/2022 of 22 July 2022, in which it is clear that there are no links between the 46 mercenaries and the United Nations. The recent alignment of actions and harmonization of terms intended to change the status of my country, Mali, from victim to culprit in this affair involving mercenaries, are obviously without effect.
As the Secretary-General’s position on the matter has been adopted by certain West African leaders, it is through him that we would send them messages. For example, to the current Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mr. Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who said,
“We have just seen the day before yesterday the
statement of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, who said that they are not mercenaries.
If I were the Malians, I would have released these
49 soldiers”,
I would like to respectfully point out that while there is a principle of subsidiarity between ECOWAS and the United Nations, it is not clear cut, nor is it mimicry. It is also important to point out that the Secretary- General of the United Nations is not a Head of State, and that the Chair of ECOWAS is not a civil servant. It would therefore be appropriate for Mr. Guterres not to trivialize ECOWAS. Finally, it would be useful to remind the Chair of ECOWAS that in Mali, the authorities do not interfere in judicial matters and that they respect the independence of the judiciary. It is not our role, therefore, to arrest or release people, which is a judicial function.
In addition, Mr. Umaro Sissoco Embalo should be aware of the fact that he is the custodian of a daunting legacy and the numerous sacrifices that have made the reputation of ECOWAS. The momentum that has made the organization great must remain unbroken. Furthermore, we have noted the threat of sanctions against Mali, and, far from being afraid of sanctions, I would point out to the Chair of ECOWAS that, at the end of his term of office, the peoples of West Africa will judge him on the efforts he will have made to improve their living conditions, and not on the media shows that serve foreign agendas.
As to Mr. Bazoum, he should take note that the Malian transition Government did not react to his insulting remarks for two reasons. The first reason is the respect we have for the teaching of our ancestors that holds that one should not respond to insults with insults. The second reason is related to the identity of Mr. Bazoum, a foreigner who claims to be from the Niger. Because we know that the brotherly people of the Niger are distinguished by their very rich societal, cultural and religious values, Mr. Bazoum cannot be from the Niger; his behaviour makes us feel completely comfortable with this observation. Mali will draw all legal consequences from the actions of the Secretary- General.
We ask those who wish to refute our version to state, before God and on their soul and conscience, whether they would find it acceptable that military personnel who have concealed their identities by putting in their passports that they are painters, masons or the like disembark at their airports with weapons, without informing them in advance, and with the fateful intention of destabilizing their countries. If they as States do not find this acceptable, if it cannot be done in Lisbon or anywhere else, Mali as a State will not find its acceptable either, be it in Bamako or any other Malian locality.
The theme of this seventy-seventh ordinary session of the General Assembly — a watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges — will give hope for better days for Mali, provided that an uncompromising assessment of the previous era is made, lessons learned and objective recommendations made. Once these steps are taken, I have no doubt that through our collective action we will succeed not only in calming the multiple sources of tension in the world, but also in promoting harmonious development and effectively fighting against pandemics, environmental degradation and global
warming, inequalities and policies of domination and resource pillaging.
Since August 2020, my country, Mali, has been in a transition process, which will end on 26 March 2024, with the transfer of power to elected authorities. Between today and that date, and in accordance with the recommendations of the Assises nationales de la refondation, the transitional authorities have, in two timetables agreed with ECOWAS, committed themselves to carrying out political and institutional reforms, before organizing elections, the ultimate objective of which is to rebuild the Malian State, so that it can respond to the deep and legitimate aspirations of our people for peace, security, good governance, development and lasting institutional stability in Mali. With this perspective in mind, I am happy to point out that some major advances have already been made, in particular the promulgation of the electoral law, which includes, inter alia, the creation of the Independent Election Management Authority, whose establishment is at an advanced stage, as well as the setting up of a commission composed of eminent personalities from all components of Malian society, to be responsible for drafting the new Constitution.
On another level, few people know that Mali is the only country in the world in which there are four overlapping types of insecurity that occur simultaneously: terrorism, community conflicts
manipulated by terrorists and their foreign-State sponsors, transnational organized crime, and the violent actions of isolated individuals. In parallel with the process of returning to constitutional order, Mali continues to wage a merciless struggle against the actors of insecurity, in particular extremist groups that are responsible for all sorts of abuses against our peaceful populations.
With respect to Mali, I am happy and proud to announce that the terrorist groups have been seriously weakened, and fear has even changed sides. However, these criminal groups retain a certain capacity to cause harm in their desperate attempts to undermine our territorial integrity and terrorize our populations.
Mali’s valiant defence and security forces remain determined to confront all threats from wherever they may come. Under the leadership of His Excellency Colonel Assimi Goita, President of the Transition and Head of State, the Government of Mali continues to intensify its efforts to recruit, train, equip and strengthen the operational capacities of the Malian defence and security forces. In this regard, I must say that the offensive actions carried out so far have enabled our forces to win decisive victories against the obscurantist forces. They have also enabled the State to regain its foothold in and reassert its authority over a large part of the national territory, as well as to encourage the return of several thousand of our compatriots to their places of origin.
However, we know that a purely military or security solution has its limits. That is why, in support of military action, the Government of Mali has adopted a comprehensive and integrated strategy that comprises political, social and development measures, including the provision of basic social services to our populations hard hit by the multifaceted crisis we have been experiencing since January 2012, with the objective of restoring the authority of the State throughout the national territory. In this context, the Government of Mali approved the national strategy for the stabilization of the central regions and its 2022- 2024 action plan on 24 August. This strategy reflects the desire of the transitional authorities to have a holistic approach to stabilizing the central regions. It aims to make the centre a stable and prosperous area where communities are reconciled and live in harmony with their neighbours. At the same time, the diligent and intelligent implementation of the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, which came out of the Algiers process, remains a strategic priority for the transitional authorities, as a peaceful instrument for a lasting resolution of the crisis that Mali is experiencing in its northern part.
I must say that I am particularly pleased with the outcome of the second decision-level meeting of the parties to the Agreement, held in Bamako from 1 to 5 August 2022. This important meeting, which brought together the signatory parties and international mediators, made it possible to remove certain obstacles to the relaunch of the Agreement implementation process.
Continuing this positive and progressive momentum in the peace process, the sixth high-level meeting of the Agreement Monitoring Committee was held in Bamako just a few weeks ago, on 2 September 2022. This session of the Monitoring Committee sent a strong signal of the parties’ willingness to engage in a new dynamic to complete the implementation of the Agreement. I would like to reaffirm our commitment to this process, the success of which remains one of the sine qua non conditions for lasting stability in Mali. This is the right time for me to thank Algeria once again for playing an active role in the peace process and to thank the international mediation team for its support.
I am not forgetting the situation of Malian refugees in neighbouring countries, which I thank in passing for their hospitality towards our people. Nor am I forgetting the situation of our internally displaced compatriots. I want to reassure them that the Government of Mali remains very attentive to their precarious situation and that all our efforts are aimed at creating the conditions for their return home in safety and dignity, with a view to their effective participation in the life of the nation.
In its difficult quest for peace, stability and sustainable development, the Malian people remain grateful for the efforts and sacrifices made by MINUSMA, from its creation in July 2013 to the present day, aimed at helping Mali restore its authority throughout its territory. That is why I would like to pay tribute, on behalf of the people and the Government of Mali, to the memory of all the victims, Malian and foreign, civilian and military, who have fallen on the field of honour in the country.
Nevertheless, we must recognize that almost 10 years after the establishment of the Mission, the objectives for which MINUSMA was deployed in Mali have not been achieved, and this, despite numerous resolutions of the Security Council. That is why the Government of Mali reiterates its often-expressed request for a change of paradigm: for MINUSMA to adapt to the environment in which it is deployed, and for it to be better coordinated with the Malian authorities. From this perspective, it is extremely important for MINUSMA to remain a support force for Mali in its quest for stability.
The Government of Mali denounces negative external influences and attempts to use certain entities legally present in the country to serve hidden agendas, including through the exploitation of the human rights issue for destabilization purposes.
The world will remember that Mali, after being abandoned midstream, on 10 June 2021, by France, which decided unilaterally to withdraw the Barkhane force from my country, was then stabbed in the back by the French authorities. This clarification is all the more useful since we refuse to confuse the French people, whom we respect, with their leaders. The French authorities, deeply anti-French for having denied universal moral values and betrayed the serious humanistic heritage of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, have turned into a junta in the service of obscurantism. I repeat: the French authorities, deeply anti-French for having denied universal moral values and betrayed the serious humanistic heritage of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, have turned into a junta in the service of obscurantism. I repeat one last time: the French authorities, deeply anti-French for having denied universal moral values and betrayed the serious humanistic heritage of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, have turned into a junta in the service of obscurantism.
The obscurantism of the French junta stems from its nostalgia for condescending, paternalistic and revanchist neo-colonial practices, including ordering the premeditated, unprecedented, illegal, illegitimate and inhuman sanctions against my country adopted by ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union. After more than 10 years of insecurity resulting in thousands of deaths, refugees and internally displaced persons, is it not a sacrilege to put a Malian population that is a victim of insecurity in a landlocked country under embargo for seven months by closing the borders and seizing Mali’s financial accounts? Thanks to their resilience and the solidarity of friendly countries and peoples of Africa, the Malian people have held out and thwarted the predictions of their adversaries. The obscurantism of the French junta, which has so quickly forgotten its responsibility for the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, has led to its guilt for instrumentalizing ethnic differences, and to it desperately trying to separate Malian children from each other and their families. Finally, this obscurantism of the French junta has caused it to violate Malian airspace by flying drones, military helicopters and fighter jets more than 50 times over that airspace, providing intelligence, weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups.
In order to ease its conscience, the French junta accuses Mali of being ungrateful for various counterterrorism operations, and revelling in the regrettable deaths of 59 French soldiers in Mali. In response to this sad accusation, we recall that in most of the official Malian statements and ceremonies, we systematically pay homage to all victims of insecurity in Mali, including the 59 deceased French soldiers, without making distinctions by nationality. Further, we invite the French not to stop there, but to take a look back at their history: their intervention in Libya decried
by all Africa, the forced participation of thousands of Africans in the First and Second World Wars, not to mention the slave trade, which explains the economic rise of many countries. How many Africans have died for France and the free world in which we live?
In view of serious acts committed by the French junta, Mali, in a letter dated 15 August 2022 (S/2022/622), requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council. The purpose of this meeting would be to allow my country to present the evidence it has gathered, which shows that the French army has repeatedly and frequently attacked Mali, violating its airspace without authorization from the authorities and sometimes falsified flight documents. More seriously, Mali will be able to prove that the French junta has provided intelligence and weapons to terrorist groups.
The Government of Mali wonders why this member of the Security Council, which currently holds the Council presidency, is blocking a debate that would establish the truth. The world needs to be informed about the serious events that have taken place in Mali, which are at the root of the worsening insecurity and destabilization of Mali and the Sahel.
By referring the matter to the Security Council, the Government of Mali intends to make this important body, which is endowed with the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, face up to its responsibilities and denounce the French junta’s actions against my country. These hostile acts are incompatible with the United Nations Charter and with France’s status as a permanent member of the Security Council.
The credibility of the mechanisms of our shared Organization is it stake, as is the effectiveness of its fight against terrorism. But more importantly, the integrity of the United Nations, which is based on respect for international commitments, international legality and the United Nations Charter, inter alia, is at risk. It seems appropriate for Mali to request the personal involvement of the President of the General Assembly in calling upon the Security Council to grant our request, so that the duplicity and the proxy war imposed on my country may cease.
In its fight against terrorism and violent extremism, the Government of Mali has been confronted with difficult challenges in terms of human rights. I would like to emphasize that human rights are, more than any other, a value that every Malian embodies. The Government of Mali remains determined to respect human rights and ensure that human rights are respected, in accordance with its zero-tolerance policy against impunity. We adhere to this out of loyalty to our ancestral values enshrined in the 1236 Kouroukan Fouga Charter of Emperor Soundiata Keita. As a cradle of great civilizations, heir to great empires, a melting- pot land of hospitality and tolerance, Mali makes the promotion and defence of human rights a national priority, which is why I strongly reaffirm that the military operations of the Malian defence and security forces are conducted in strict compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law.
However, as I have just emphasized, the Government of Mali is vehemently opposed to the use of the issue of human rights for political purposes or posturing or blackmail or intimidation. Similarly, we regret the double standards that lead to the rights of populations whose entire villages have been massacred and razed hardly arousing any indignation, while communications are manipulated to pass off terrorists neutralized on the battlefield as innocent civilians.
In conclusion, I will say that the Malian people have decided to take their destiny into their own hands. They fully support the Government in rebuilding Mali and returning it to peaceful and secure constitutional order in March 2024, after free, transparent and credible elections. The realization of these vast projects requires the Government to extend and intensify its efforts aimed at continuously improving the security situation in the country and protecting the people and their property.
In this regard, I am pleased that the third Transition Support Group Meeting on Mali was held in Lome on 6 September. I am also pleased with this important meeting’s outcomes, in particular the recognition of the progress made by the transition authorities, the calls for the mobilization of all Mali’s partners to consolidate their political, economic, technical and financial support to the Republic of Mali, and the support voiced for the efforts of Mali’s transitional authorities to achieve a harmonious return to constitutional order.
I would like to remind the Assembly that the transition in Mali came as the result of several years of dysfunction in our young democracy, which nevertheless had achieved some positive results. Unfortunately, on balance, our liabilities were greater than our assets, which is what triggered the transition.
I would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank our respected elder, His Excellency Mr. Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, for the wise and enlightened advice he gave us in his memorable address to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session (see A/77/PV.7). I would like to reassure him that the Malian transitional authorities have no other objective than to carry out political and institutional reforms before organizing elections, while doggedly fighting terrorism. These reforms will improve governance, and all measures will be taken to make Mali’s democracy the most envied in the world.
In those efforts, we will pay particular attention to the issue of the “third term”, which will be excluded as a possibility in our country. The “third term”, for those who are unfamiliar with the concept, consists of the president of a republic carrying out a four-step manoeuvre to retain power for himself and his clan. It works as follows.
The first stage occurs near the end of a president’s second term. Because term limits make him ineligible for re-election, the outgoing president calls for a constitutional revision in a non-consensual manner. In the second stage, that of constitutional revision, the outgoing president modifies some constitutional provisions. In the third stage, once the new Constitution has been adopted — against the background of a political crisis, of course — the outgoing president now becomes a candidate, in violation of the two-term limit. His candidacy is now justified by the adoption of the new Constitution under the obvious pretext that the two-term limit was contained in the old Constitution, while the outgoing president is a candidate under the newly adopted Constitution. The fourth stage involves the organization of elections, which are a farce. Naturally, the outgoing president wins the election. A ruthless hunt for political opponents ensues. Some of them are arrested, others go into exile and still others are murdered. Allegiances are won through the power of money, patronage and intimidation.
I would simply state, using a soccer metaphor, that the third term is a magic trick: it is the art of dribbling past one’s opponents while keeping the ball.
President Ouattara’s advice reminds us of the sad story of the camel mocking the hump of the dromedary.
Despite the tangible efforts of the Malian transition to implement the timetables for the political and institutional reforms and elections that have been hailed by the international community, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the French junta, from whom Mali has not asked for a single thing, considered there to have been no progress, forgetting that no one can love Mali more than the Malians themselves. Her singular position, adverse to us, hardly surprises us. Victor Hugo in “Claude Gueux” classified the human race into two categories:
“There are men who are metal, and there are men
who are lodestones.”
The Minister in question, unfortunately, is neither metal nor lodestone; she is hideously sui generis.
Faced with uncertainty and strange situations, the Malian people adopt an attitude of prudence. In The Strange Fate of Wangrin, writer and sage Amadou Hampate Ba advised that:
“If the ability to observe is a quality, knowing how
to be silent can save a person from calamity”.
Mali advises the Minister of the French junta to be content with simply observing her situation.
This is an opportunity for me to salute the exemplary and fruitful cooperative relations Mali has with Russia, while reaffirming that Mali remains open to all partners that wish to help it meet the multiple challenges besetting it, in strict respect for its sovereignty and unity and of the dignity of the Malian people.
Mali recalls that, in line with the vision of Colonel Assimi Goita, President of the Transition and Head of State, three principles guide national public action: first, respect for the sovereignty of Mali; secondly, respect for the strategic choices and partners of Mali; and thirdly, consideration of the vital interests of the Malian people in the decisions taken.
In implementing those principles, Mali remains willing to pursue and strengthen its good-neighbourly relations with all the countries around it. Similarly, faithful to its pan-African commitment, Mali will continue to work within subregional and regional organizations to bring about African integration. Also, achieving the objectives of the transition requires the support of all Mali’s partners, including the United Nations. I therefore appeal to Mali’s friends to stand by the Government in order to help it to meet those important challenges together.
As for the vast majority of the world’s States, convinced by mutual respect and the win-win partnership, I guarantee that Mali’s doors are wide open to them, and Malians will welcome them with open arms. For the minority that may be tempted not to respect those principles, we promise them that they will be met by millions of Assimi Goita supporters, anxious to preserve their honour, their dignity and their vital interests.
I will conclude by giving two pieces of advice to those that are nostalgic for domination. They should have a sense of empathy by treating others as they would like to be treated and not doing to others what they would not want done to them. The second piece of advice is to review their work, revise their models, adjust their mindsets to reflect the change in attitudes and the evolution of the world into their assessment and analysis grids, move on from the colonial past, hear the anger, frustration and opposition coming from African cities and rural areas and African peoples and understand that that trend is inevitable. Thanks to the principle of fractional multiplication, their intimidation and disruptive actions have only swelled the ranks of Africans anxious to preserve their dignity. If there were only 100 of us at independence, today there are millions, and tomorrow, as long as the unequal patterns remain, there will be billions. Mali and its people will not be bystanders in the face of attacks and adversity. For every word used wrongly, we will respond by reciprocating; for every bullet fired against us, we will respond by reciprocating.
Only then will a new era become a reality, with solutions that bring about change to address interrelated challenges through interdependent States and by valuing humankind, without distinction of any kind, in particular with regard to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, as stipulated in article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
May God bless Mali and protect Malians from the dark and destructive forces of the world. May God bless Africa and protect Africans from the obscurantist and destructive forces of the world. May God bless the world and protect all humankind from the dark and destructive forces of the world.