A Mali government statement says the country will not accept any visitors presumed to be Malian without a passport or Mali-issued travel documents.

In a statement, the Malian government condemned the use of the European "laissez-passez" in cases of expulsion, describing it as "against international conventions".

While the West African country is overwhelmingly Muslim, some Malians converted to Christianity during colonialism when the country was ruled by predominantly Catholic France.