In Mali, Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group have arrived

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group have arrived in Mali.

It was the French government itself which announced it, publishing on Christmas Eve a press release signed by some fifteen European countries partners in the anti-jihadist operation in the Sahel (Italy, Estonia, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, etc.), strongly condemning the deployment of this private military company close to the Kremlin.

Deployment ?

"We observed on the spot, at Bamako airport, repeated air rotations involving personnel transport planes of the Russian army, the construction of a military camp intended to accommodate a significant contingent of mercenaries, frequent visits of Wagner executives, ”said a government source.

Evidence of this imminent landing in force, the information on the spot noted "massive orders of food".

This deployment, both announced and feared for several weeks, has therefore accelerated, and probably weighed on the recent cancellation - officially for health reasons - of Emmanuel Macron's visit to Mali.

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This source also mentions "the activities in Mali of Russian geologists known for their proximity to Wagner".

A significant detail, because Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, nevertheless has gold mines.

Would the junta in power in Bamako negotiate cessions of concessions in order to pay the militia, whose "services" are valued at some ten million dollars?

“No comment”, we evade.

But Wagner, composed in large part of former soldiers of the Russian army and directed by a former personal cook of Vladimir Poutin, is in fact known to cut the countries where the group is installed, such as the Central African Republic.

No question of folding Barkhane faster than the planned schedule

Concretely, what can France and its partners do? Basically, apart from denouncing the Russian government's involvement in Operation Wagner, the press release does not add anything really new. Its terms even seem to be withdrawn from the implicit threats brandished not long ago by the boss of the Quai d'Orsay, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who designated a deployment “incompatible” with the presence of the Barkhane force and its allies. What would happen, for example, if elements of the anti-jihadist coalition found themselves on the ground in contact with Russian mercenaries? The question is even more sensitive with regard to the European special force Takuba, which includes soldiers from Eastern countries (Estonians, Czechs,Hungarian soon) having "no desire to deal with the Russians in Africa after having supported them in Europe", as a private officer confides.

For the moment, Paris does not have a precise answer. A person familiar with the matter argues that Wagner's mission should consist much more in helping Colonel Assimi Goïta and his henchmen stay in power than in ensuring the safety of the Malian population against terrorists. For the moment, in any case, there is no question of withdrawing Barkhane faster than the planned schedule (from 5,000 men today to 2,500-3,000 by 2023). On the contrary, the joint communiqué reaffirms "the commitment and determination of the partners to continue the fight against armed terrorist groups". The Europeans, like Mali's neighbors of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) are putting pressure on the junta to organize the democratic transition as promised.But the elections scheduled for next February seem chimerical for the time being ...