The arrival of the Russians had been announced and denounced on Thursday by about fifteen western powers involved in the anti-discontinuation in the country, including France.
Le Monde with AFP.
Mali denied any deployment of mercenaries of the Russian group Wagner, Friday, December 24th. The arrival of the Russians had been announced and denounced Thursday by about fifteen Western powers involved in the anti-discontinuance fight in this Sahelian country. The Malian government “brings a formal denial to these allegations” on “a so-called deployment of the elements of a private security company”, in a statement released Friday night.
France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, the Kingdom -Uni and Sweden had called Russia to behave constructively and responsible in the Sahel region.
“Foreign mercenaries”
“We deeply regret the decision of the Malian transitional authorities to use publicly limited public funds to reward foreign mercenaries instead of supporting the Malian armed forces and public services for the benefit of the people of Malian, estimated these countries in a Communiqué published Thursday. We know about the involvement of the Government of the Russian Federation in providing material support for the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali and call Russia to adopt to behave responsibly and constructively in the region . “
The Western concerns mainly concern “military type facilities for the reception of a significant number of mercenaries”, according to government sources. Means deployed “urgently”, “at Bamako airport,” added these sources. “The whole transaction has been the subject of air transfers involving the means of the Russian armed forces and has been supervised locally by operators of the Wagner group,” they emphasized.
Russia and the transitional government in Bamako – from two successive coups in August 2020 and in May 2021 – have been showing their desire for several months to strengthen their bilateral military cooperation. Four Russian helicopters were delivered on September 30, on the Tarmac at the Airport of the Malian Capital, in the presence of the Minister of Defense, Colonel Sadio Camara, formed in Russia.