AFRICOM’s chief warned Mali about the Wagner Group. It didn’t work. – By Joe Gould (Defense News) / March 17, 2022
WASHINGTON ― America’s top commander for Africa said Thursday he personally urged Mali’s ruling military junta not to invite in Russian mercenaries the Wagner Group before it did just that.
The West African country’s transitional government has reportedly allowed in as many as 1,000 mercenaries from the Russian private contractor since December, highlighting competing efforts by Russia and the U.S. to wield influence in the region. The private military company has been linked by the U.S. government to a former Russian intelligence officer with deep Kremlin connections.
Mali had been the center of western counterterror efforts, and instability in the Sahel is expected to rise as France ends its nine-year troop presence there. France maintains 4,300 troops in West Africa and is repositioning troops that had been in Mali.
