In gesture to Paris, Mali pardons convicted French agent

Mali's junta chief on Thursday pardoned a French intelligence agent serving a 20 year jail term, a rare conciliatory gesture following years of tension between the west African nation and its former colonial ruler.

The decision came as Mali's military authorities have been weakened by a massive offensive launched in April by jihadists and separatists.

Arrested a year ago, the French agent, identified as Yann V., was accused by Mali of being a spy and undermining state security.

Mali said in a statement posted on Facebook that the clemency "does not call into question the facts established by an adversarial judgment rendered during trial".

It added that there would be "immediate removal of the individual from national territory".

The sentencing of the agent in June was a new blow to relations between France and Mali, where a junta has ruled since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Junta leader General Assimi Goita's release of the agent demonstrated his "commitment to peace and dialogue, as well as to the ancestral values of forgiveness, hospitality and magnanimity that characterise our culture", the statement said.

The French agent was detained in August last year in the company of several Malian officers, who were allegedly aiming to stage a coup.

He spent nearly 10 months in detention in Bamako up to his trial.

France has insisted that the charges were "baseless".

The French foreign ministry maintains that the agent was "carrying out a security cooperation mission, and at no point did France participate, directly or indirectly, in the destabilisation of Mali".

In the days following the arrest, France suspended counter-terrorism cooperation with Mali and ordered two Malian diplomats to leave French territory.

The Malian officers arrested with the French official have not yet stood trial. They are accused of establishing an espionage and conspiracy network aimed at destabilizing Mali's government in order to stage a coup.

In its statement, the Malian government acknowledged a "brotherly country" whose "good offices, exercised discreetly and with scrupulous respect for Mali's sovereignty, contributed to securing this pardon."

According to a Malian military source interviewed by French newspaper Le Monde, Morocco, which maintains good relations with France and Mali, reportedly played a role.

Impoverished Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012, fuelled notably by violence from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as local criminal gangs and separatists.

It has seen a spate of attacks since April by a coalition of Tuareg FLA separatists and jihadists from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

The assaults resulted in the death of the country's defence minister, the capture of the northern city of Kidal by insurgents and the brief capture of the town of Anefis.

In recent years Mali has turned away from France in its fight against insurgents, moving instead closer militarily and politically to Russia.

In 2022, amid the deteriorating relations, France ordered the withdrawal of its 2,400 troops from Mali.

On Thursday, the Malian army announced the release of 82 soldiers who had been held since April by JNIM and the FLA.

A foreign ministry source told AFP that the release was facilitated by Algeria.

Mali began easing tensions with Algeria in July. Despite a rift dating back more than a year, the neighbours surprised observers by announcing the return of their ambassadors and the reciprocal reopening of their airspace.