French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday
cancelled his two-day trip to Mali to meet transitional leader Colonel Assimi
Goita after France announced new measures to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Macron was scheduled to meet Goita on Monday, for the first time since the
Malian colonel was sworn into office in June after leading the country’s second
coup in less than a year.

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

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

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The president’s office, however, said that
a Christmas meal prepared by the president’s chef would be flown over to French
military personnel stationed in the Sahel country. It also said that organising
the meeting with Goita had been tricky even before the cancellation.

Macron wished to meet Goita in the presence
of Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and Chad’s leader Mahamat Idriss Deby
Itno, but Chad refused to attend the meeting. Chad and other neighbouring
countries are also involved in the fight against the jihadists.

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Paris is deeply concerned over the
possibility that Russian mercenaries could be deployed in the African country
as France begins to draw down its troops there.

Meanwhile, with France in the grip of its
fifth COVID-19 wave, Prime Minister Jean Castex on Friday urged people to get
vaccinated against COVID-19 and said people would have to show proof of
vaccination to enter some venues. Castex also cancelled a trip planned to visit
French troops stationed in Jordan from December 31 to January 1.

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On Friday, France imposed bans on British
tourists amid concern over the “extremely rapid” rise in omicron
COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.