Mali’s military government says it has foiled a coup plot and arrested a French national accused of working with foreign agents to destabilise the country.
Security Minister Gen Daoud Aly Mohammedine announced on national television on Thursday, 14 August 2025, that the suspect, Yann Vezilier, was operating for France’s intelligence service. His image was shown alongside two detained army generals, including former Mopti governor Gen Abass Dembele and senior officer Néma Sagara.
According to the authorities, the group, which included soldiers and civilians, planned to overthrow the junta with support from foreign states and local political actors. Mali’s former colonial ruler, France, has not responded to the accusations, and Vezilier has not made a public statement.
Vezilier was a sergeant in the French Air Force, but per the Decree of October 17, 2020, on the promotion and appointment to the National Order of Merit for military personnel belonging to the active army, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
The case has triggered strong reactions on social media. In a post tagging Mali’s leader, Gen Assimi Goïta and his CSS counterparts, Gen Abdourahamane Tiani and Captain Ibrahim Traoré, pro-government activists, Marcus Herve Traore, urged the Malian government not to release the French spy, comparing the case to the release of suspected spies in Burkina Faso. France has a history of destabilising African governments, and many have called for severe punishment.
The arrests come amid growing political unrest in the West African nation. Just weeks earlier, former Prime Minister Choguel Maïga was detained on charges of damaging the state’s image and embezzlement. Maïga, the first civilian prime minister in the transitional government, was removed in November 2024 after repeated clashes with military leaders.
Since seizing power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, Government leader Gen Assimi Goïta has postponed elections and extended Mali’s transition by five years. Despite ending military cooperation with France and deepening ties with Russia, Mali continues to face a worsening jihadist insurgency that began in 2012.
Gen Mohammedine assured citizens that “the situation is under control” and said investigations are underway to find other accomplices.
The arrests have drawn strong reactions in Mali. An editorial in local media, titled
Néma Sagara and Abass Dembele – The Face of Betrayal”, described the development as an image of unrelenting brutality… not foreign terrorists or common bandits, but faces we thought we knew. It condemned the generals as symbols of moral decay and framed the incident as proof that the fight for sovereignty is not only against external forces and terrorism; it is also against the enemy within, the one with a familiar face and a respected rank.
The editorial urged Malians to treat the episode as “a grim reminder that a man’s honour is not measured by his rank, but by his unwavering loyalty to his homeland.”
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