Overview

• France suspended remaining counterterrorism cooperation with Mali after Bamako detained a French embassy staffer on August 15.
• Two Malian diplomats in Paris were declared persona non grata and ordered to leave French territory by Saturday.
• Mali responded by designating five French embassy employees in Bamako persona non grata, though those individuals had already departed.
• The French Foreign Ministry rejected the espionage allegations as unfounded and invoked diplomatic immunity, warning of additional measures if the detainee is not freed quickly.
• The freeze severs a residual channel for intelligence sharing as Mali’s junta deepens ties with Russia against a backdrop of entrenched jihadist violence.