A leading Malian economist has been arrested in Bamako, taken to a police station and questioned about "subversive and demoralising remarks", one of his lawyers told AFP.

Lawyer Abdourahmane Toure said that Etienne Fakaba Sissoko was being held on Sunday evening at the police station in the Malian capital, but he did not know which public statement or interview had provoked the arrest.

The economist recently spoke in several media, national and foreign, about the potential repercussions of sanctions imposed by African regional bodies in response to Mali's military junta abandoning elections planned for next month.

Fakaba Sissoko is a professor of economics and a researcher at the Centre for Political, Economic and Social Analysis of Mali, a private organisation in the capital.

He formerly worked for the Malian presidency and in a government body responsible for managing a crisis in the centre of the poor Sahel nation, which has been wracked by unrest since 2012, including jihadist attacks and clashes among communities.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on January 9 introduced a battery of drastic economic and diplomatic measures against Mali.

These measures, notably affecting trade and financial policies, are in response to the junta breaking its promise to hold presidential and legislative elections on February 27, which would have restored civilian rule.

Transitional Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga denounced the sanctions as "illegal" in an interview on state television broadcast on Saturday.

Mali junta seeks review of defence accord with France
Paris (AFP) Jan 17, 2022 - Mali has asked France for a review of bilateral defence accords against the backdrop of growing tensions between Paris and the ruling junta in Bamako, a French diplomat said Monday.

The diplomat told AFP that France was "examining" the request, without detailing its contents.

Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga on Saturday said on state television that the accords were "unbalanced", remarking that Mali "cannot even overfly its territory without France's permission".

Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop later told French news channel France 24 that Bamako had submitted suggested amendments to Paris.

A military operation launched by France in January 2013 to fight jihadists in Mali -- first called Serval, then Barkhane -- falls under the bilateral accord reached in March 2013.

Meanwhile bilateral relations have been strained over the presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group in Mali and French moves to reorganise its military presence in the country.

France has thousands of troops in Mali and neighbouring Sahel countries in West Africa as part of an anti-jihadist force.

Last week, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France planned to stay in Mali, "but not under any conditions".

Last week Mali's regional neighbours closed their common borders after the Economic Community of West African States slapped new sanctions on Bamako for its failure to stick to a timetable for returning to civilian rule.

Even after years of a foreign troop presence, jihadists operating in the Sahel between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have continued with deadly incursions against both security forces and civilians.

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