Junta-run Mali, which has broken off ties with former ruler France, on Tuesday said it was quitting an international group of French-speaking countries, following its allies Niger and Burkina Faso.
“Mali cannot remain a member of an organisation whose actions are incompatible with constitutional principles… based on the sovereignty of the state,” the foreign ministry said in a letter to its French counterpart, referring to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).
Mali was suspended from the organisation — a post-colonial entity that resembles the Commonwealth — in August 2020 after a military coup, which toppled its president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
The OIF had called for the release of Keita, in power since 2013 at the helm of the west African country, which for years has faced a security, political and economic crisis.
It had also called for the speedy setting up of a transition government led by civilians.
On Monday, fellow junta-led states Burkina Faso and Niger, which have also turned their backs on France while forging ties with Russia, announced their withdrawal from the OIF.
The three have also left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc to form their own Sahel confederation.
Niger was also suspended from the OIF after a military coup toppled its elected president Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023.
The OIF is based in Paris and seeks to promote the French language and political, educational, economic and cultural cooperation among its 93 member countries.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have rebaptised streets and squares in their capitals to get rid of French colonial names.
In all, nearly 25 names have been replaced in the Malian capital Bamako, among them boulevards, streets, squares and public establishments.
French was the only official language in Mali when it gained independence in 1960.
AFP
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