fighters in a letter to UN

 BAMAKO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Mali said in a letter to the United Nations Security Council dated Monday that France violated its airspace and delivered weapons to Islamist fighters in order to destabilize the country.

BAMAKO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Mali said in a Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop estimated that more than 50 violations of Malian airspace had been observed this year, saying most of them were due to the use of French forces of drones, military helicopters, or fighter planes.

"These flagrant violations of Mali's airspace have been used by France to collect intelligence for the benefit of terrorist groups active in the Sahel, and to drop arms and ammunition on them," he said in the letter.

The Malian government claims to be able to demonstrate where and when France would have delivered weapons to Islamist groups, it is added in the letter, without however any proof being provided.

"France has obviously never supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, which remain its designated enemies throughout the planet", indicated the French embassy in Mali on Twitter, stressing that 53 French soldiers were dead in Mali in the last 9 years.

These accusations come as France on Monday completed the withdrawal of French soldiers from Barkhane, a military operation aimed at fighting Islamist movements in the Sahel.

(Fadima Kontao report, written by Ant Miridzhanian; French version Camille Raynaud)