“Wagner is there to support the junta, but lets believe that they are fighting terrorism,” said Le Drian on Wednesday night in the Foreign Committee of the French National Assembly in Paris.
“Wagner did not come because the international community is withdrawing,” said Le Drian, “but because the junta wants to stay in power by all means.” France, like other western countries, assumes that the company’s mercenaries are active in the West African country. The European Union accuses Wagner of inciting violence and intimidating civilians and imposed sanctions on the organization on December 13, 2021.
Mali’s interim government denies the presence of Russian mercenaries
Mali’s military-ruled interim government recently admitted the presence of Russian trainers in the country and stressed that it had given them the same mandate as the EU training mission EUTM. Germany, France, Great Britain and other countries had accused her of bringing mercenaries from the Russian company Wagner into the country, which Mali’s interim government has so far denied. Le Drian assessed the deployment of mercenaries in Mali, assumed by France, as a security risk for the country and the region.
Mali, with around 20 million inhabitants, has seen three military coups since 2012 and is politically extremely unstable. Since the most recent coup last May, the country has been led by a military transitional government. Islamist terror groups have been troubling the crisis state for years. The former colonial power France is active in the region with thousands of military in the fight against terrorism.