Tunisian President Asks France to End Military Presence in Mali

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki once again stressed that diplomacy is the only way to resolve the current crisis in Mali, and called for an immediate end to France’s military intervention in the African country.

“We in Tunisia are calling for an end to France’s military intervention in Mali in the shortest possible time and also finding a political solution for Mali by the African states,” Marzouki told the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

In similar remarks yesterday, Vice-Speaker of the Algerian Parliament Mohamed Djemani also criticized France’s interference in Mali.

Speaking in a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, the Algerian lawmaker also opposed any kind of military interference in the country, adding that Algeria with an active diplomacy tried to settle the problem through peaceful means, because alien interference in domestic affairs of the countries will cause problems in the region.

Larijani, for his part, said that the alien interference usually has no desirable outcome and this has been experienced in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The United Nations on Friday warned that the western-led war in Mali will leave massive wave of displacements in the West African state.

“We believe that in the near future there could be up to 300,000 people additionally displaced inside Mali, and over 400,000 additionally displaced in the neighboring countries,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters on Friday.

The figures do not include the existing 229,000 people already displaced inside the country and 147,000 refugees who have fled to neighboring nations, she said in Geneva.

The spokeswoman also noted that many have been unable to leave the violence-hit country due to the high costs.

The wave of displacements came after France aircraft started airstrikes in the country on January 11, with thousands of Malians fleeing for Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger.