Overview

• Mali’s junta says the French embassy employee was arrested in Bamako for allegedly working with French intelligence to destabilize the government.
• The military government also detained around 55 soldiers and two generals—Abass Dembélé and Nema Sagara—accusing them of plotting a coup.
• Analysts point to a recurring Sahel pattern of military regimes targeting French nationals amid declining Franco-African relations.
• Diplomats from Paris and Bamako are holding direct talks in the capital to resolve the dispute and secure the employee’s swift release.
• The case underscores Mali’s accelerating turn toward Russia and its broader decoupling from its former colonial partner France.