Mali's government refuses to talk to terrorist groups, the foreign minister has said, after terrorists and allied separatists mounted widespread attacks across the country.
The coordinated deadly offensive by terrorists and Tuareg-led separatists on April 25 and 26 targeted strategic towns and killed the country's defence minister.
"The government of Mali does not envisage any dialogue with the lawless terrorist armed groups that bear responsibility for the tragic events our people have been experiencing for years," Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said, meeting the country's diplomats on Thursday.
The West African country has been dealing with more than a decade of violence and last month's attacks were reminiscent of a crisis that rocked Mali in 2012.
Assaults on towns
Under an alliance forged a year ago, Tuareg-led separatists teamed up with the JNIM terrorist group to launch the latest assaults.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an attack on Kati, a garrison town near the capital. President Assimi Goita has since taken on the defence brief.
Since 2012, Mali has faced a deep security crisis fuelled in particular by violence from terrorist groups and separatists. The unrest fed a political crisis, leading to two military coups in 2020 and 2021.
