Washington sees no sign that Wagner has abandoned his intentions to exploit African nations, “despite the events of last weekend.”
Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of PMC Wagner, may be behind the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers (MINUSMA) from Mali, Africa. This was announced on Friday, June 30, by John Kirby, coordinator of the US National Security Council for strategic communications, Voice of America writes.
He emphasized that the United States is concerned about the destabilizing activities of militants in Africa and that he is aware of the collaboration of the transitional authority of Mali with the “Wagnerites”.
“We know that senior Malian officials communicated directly with Prigozhin’s mercenaries on the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from the country,” Kirby said.
Washington believes that Prigozhin is interested in leaving MINUSMA to “advance the interests of his own private company.”
“The country’s transitional government has paid Wagner PMCs more than $200 million since the end of 2021, when PMC forces began operating in the country,” said the US National Security Council coordinator.
According to Kirby, the security situation in Mali with the presence of Russian mercenaries has not improved, despite the large sum paid by the current regime in Mali to a private military company.
It is known that the UN peacekeeping contingent arrived in Mali in 2013, since then there have been several coups d’etat in the country, and now a military junta is in power, which opposes the peacekeepers.
The United Nations Security Council decided on the complete withdrawal of the peacekeeping contingent from Mali.
Earlier, a convoy of the UN international peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was blown up on February 21 by an improvised explosive device.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.