West Condemns Russian Deployment Of ‘Mercenaries’ In Mali

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in World news December 24, 2021

France and its 15 allies in Europe and Canada have condemned what they said is the deployment of Russian mercenaries to Mali. They said this could further deteriorate the security situation in West Africa which is battling Jihadist groups.

The Western nations accused the Russian government of providing material support in the deployment of mercenaries from the Wagner group.

However, Russia denies any government links with the shadowy private military company.

The EU recently imposed sanctions on the Wagner group, accusing it of involvement in serious human rights abuses.

The notoriously secretive group came to the world’s attention in 2014. They had backed pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

Since then, the group is operating in countries including Syria, Mozambique, Sudan, Libya, and the Central African Republic.

The western nations released a statement on Thursday warning about what could be the outcomes of the deployment of mercenaries in Mali.

They said this could lead to an aggravation of the human rights situation in the country. This could further threaten the agreement for peace and reconciliation.

They also said they ‘’deeply regret’’ the choice of the Malian authorities to use ‘’already scarce public funds’’ to pay foreign mercenaries.

Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and the UK jointly released the statement.

As for Mali, they have made no public comments on the latest developments.

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