Macron cancels visit to Mali after announcement of new Covid-19 measures

French President Emmanuel Macron canceled a trip to Mali on Friday to meet with transitional leader Colonel Assimi Goita after France announced new measures to combat the pandemic.

Macron will meet with Goita on Monday, for the first time since the Malian colonel took office in June, after leading the country’s second coup in less than a year.

Macron was also supposed to pay a Christmas visit to French troops stationed there to fight a jihadist insurgency in the country.

“This decision was made to maintain consistency between the measures announced at the national level and the president’s international agenda, and not to expose our troops” as France fights a fifth wave of the virus, the president’s office said in a statement.

However, the office said a Christmas meal prepared by the president’s chef would be flown to French military personnel stationed in the Sahelian country.

He added that organizing the meeting with the Goitas had been complicated even before the cancellation.

Macron had wanted to meet with Goita in the presence of Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and Chadian leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, but Chad rejected this format.

Chad and other neighboring countries are also involved in the fight against jihadists.

The planned visit was to take place at a time of tension in relations between France and Mali.

Paris is deeply concerned about the possibility of Russian mercenaries being deployed to the African country when France begins to withdraw its troops there.

(AFP)