The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, phoned his Malian counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop, yesterday to try to put an end to the incident created by some of his statements, which were interpreted as not ruling out NATO intervention in the Sahel country.
In his Twitter account, Diop seems to be satisfied with Albares’ clarifications, after the Malian government summoned the Spanish ambassador in Bamako, José Hornero, last Friday, visibly upset by what the minister described as “unacceptable, unpleasant and reprehensible statements” made by his Spanish colleague and reported in the press, to the effect that he did not rule out a NATO military intervention in Mali.
The ambassador was summoned to demand an explanation for Albares’ words when he was asked in an interview on RTVE about the hypothesis that NATO would have to intervene on the Alliance’s southern flank, given the serious jihadist threat and Russia’s expansion, particularly in Mali, where the Western community has denounced the presence of the Russian mercenary group Wagner to assist the coup junta that now controls the country.
Albares argued in the interview that the inclusion of the southern flank in NATO’s concept is not “offensive towards anyone”, although he did not rule out “military reinforcement”.
The Malian foreign minister understood these comments as a threat of aggression. “It seems that the minister is encouraging an act of aggression against an independent and sovereign country, which is why we have declared this call for a strong protest,” he lamented.
He also took the opportunity to “remind” his Spanish counterpart “that the current situation of insecurity in Mali is related to NATO’s intervention in Libya, of which Mali is suffering the consequences”, regarding the 2011 international military campaign in the North African country.
Yesterday, the Spanish government responded to the accusations by assuring, through a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that “at no time” has the Spanish minister requested NATO intervention in Mali.
The spokesman indicated that the ambassador in Bamako assured the Malian authorities, in response to their demand for an explanation for the minister’s words, that “Spain has not requested, neither during the summit nor at any other time, any NATO intervention, mission or any kind of action in Mali.
This is how the Embassy expressed itself, via its Twitter account, in a statement in which it adds that Spain “reaffirms the deep ties of friendship and cooperation and friendship with Mali”, as well as its commitment to “continue promoting peaceful and friendly relations” with that country.
Hours later, the Malian foreign minister also posted a message on his Twitter account in which he said he had had a telephone exchange with the Spanish foreign minister “about the comments attributed to him about the possibility of a NATO military intervention in Mali”.
Dioup added that Albares “denied this and expressed his commitment to friendly and cooperative relations with Mali”.
