BAMAKO, 01 February 2022, (TON): Mali gave the French ambassador 72 hours to leave the country after hostile and outrageous comments by former colonial power France about its transitional government, it said in a statement read on national television.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that Mali’s junta was “out of control” amid escalating tensions between the West African state and its European partners following two coups.

He also called the junta illegitimate. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said “French troops would not stay in Mali if the price was too high.”

The government statement said “the French ambassador to Bamako was summoned and notified of a decision by the government inviting him to leave the national territory within 72 hours following hostile and outrageous comments by the French foreign affairs minister recently.”

There was no immediate comment from Paris.

France has had troops in Mali since 2013, when it intervened to drive back militants who were advancing on the capital. The extremists have since regrouped and are waging an increasingly bloody insurgency across the Sahel region.