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In the defense of Russia, Mali and the Central African Republic did not join Eritrea, the only African nation to have opposed on March 2, before the General Assembly of the United Nations, the resolution condemning the aggression of Ukraine. But their abstention does not in any way mean distancing themselves from their new privileged partner.
It was no surprise that one of the rare demonstrations in support of the Russian offensive was organized in Bangui on March 5. In Bamako, despite the war started ten days earlier by Vladimir Putin, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Colonels Sadio Camara and Alou Boï Diarra, did not consider it necessary to postpone a new trip to Moscow in order, assured one of them to AFP, to take stock of the latest deliveries of military equipment to the Malian army and to discuss additional supplies.
Officially, Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra and the transitional authorities of Mali have been careful not to take a position in the war led by Russia in Ukraine, apparently opting, like 23 other countries on the African continent, for cautious neutrality. Corn “this position of non-alignment is only motivated by immediate interests, emphasizes Paul-Simon Handy of the Institute for Security Studies. Mali, which is trying to reconnect with the Economic Community of West African States [pour lever le blocus qu’elle lui a imposé], be careful this time not to upset its neighbors and Europe. Ditto for the Central African Republic, which has realized that Moscow can accompany it in military campaigns, but does not provide financial assistance. »
To maintain partnerships
The way is indeed narrow for these two States, largely dependent on European subsidies, which saw France then the European Union (EU) suspend their budgetary assistance, in particular because of their association with the mercenaries of the Wagner group, the unofficial Kremlin army.
Thus, in Brussels, during the last EU-African Union summit, President Touadéra, who against all evidence refuses to recognize the presence of these paramilitaries who have been active for five years at his side, tried in vain to speak with Emmanuel Macron. The outbreak of the war in Ukraine a week later, which had the effect of bringing Westerners together vis-à-vis Russia, should certainly not play in favor of a normalization of relations between Brussels and these two countries, considered as the heads bridge of Moscow’s influence in Africa.
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