Lavrov: Mali asks for the help of a Russian military company and Paris objects

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced at the United Nations on Saturday that Mali has asked for help from a Russian private military company in the fight against the rebels.

Sources told Reuters that Mali’s military council is close to an agreement to recruit military contractors from the Russian private group “Wagner”, prompting the objection from Paris, which said this “was not in line “with the continued French presence in the West African country.

About the military council in Mali, Lavrov said during a press conference: “They are fighting terrorism, among other things, and have resorted to a private military company from Russia, in light of France’s desire, as I understand it, to significantly reduce its military presence there “.

The Russian news agency quoted Lavrov as saying that the Russian government had nothing to do with this cooperation.

The French Ministry of Defense declined to comment. Paris has begun to reconfigure its “Barkhane” force of 5,000 men in Mali to include other European partners and earlier this month it started redeploying from bases in northern Mali.

The military council made it clear that it would oversee the transition to a democratic system through elections to be held in February 2022.

Malian Prime Minister Chogoel Maiga told the UN General Assembly on Saturday that his country felt that France had abandoned it with this.
The move hinted that his country was looking for more military assistance “to fill the void that will surely result from the withdrawal of the Barkhane Force from the north of the country”.

And Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, warned last week that EU relations with Mali could be severely compromised if it allowed Russian contractors to operate in the country.

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