The American Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, shared her “serious concern“As to a possible deployment in Mali of the sulphurous Russian private security group Wagner with which the Bamako authorities are in discussion, in a statement received Tuesday. “I expressed our serious concern about reports that Russian mercenaries could be deployed in Mali and the risk this would pose to peace and security in the region and more broadly in the Sahel.», She declared after an interview with Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum.
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield was part of a UN Security Council delegation that traveled to Bamako on Saturday and Sunday to pressure the military-dominated authorities for a reestablishment of civilian power after two putschs in nine months in this country. The delegation then traveled to neighboring Niger. Criticizing “russian mercenaries“, Guilty according to her of”human rights violations against civilians“, The American ambassador estimated that their presence”will likely worsen the current security situation».
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The Wagner group, with which the Russian authorities deny any link, provides maintenance services for military equipment and training but it is accused, in particular by France, of being remunerated from the resources of the host countries and of serving the interests of the Kremlin. The presence of Wagner’s paramilitaries has been reported in several African countries, notably in the Central African Republic and Libya, but also in Syria. Several European countries, France and Germany in the lead, have warned that an agreement between Bamako and Wagner would call into question their military presence in Mali.
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