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At an army parade: Choguel Kokalla Maïga
Photo: FLORENT VERGNES / AFP
The US Army regards the presence of fighters from the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner in Mali as proven.
According to current knowledge, there are "several hundred" mercenaries in the West African crisis state, said the head of the US military's Africa Command, Stephen Townsend, in an interview with the Voice of America broadcaster on Friday.
He contradicted the Malian government, which denies the presence of the mercenaries.
"Wagner is in Mali," Townsend pointed out.
He accused the Russian military of supporting the mercenaries.
"They are being transported by Russian Air Force planes." The US classified the situation as "worrying."
The Wagner group is considered »Russia's shadow army«, but Moscow denies any connection to it.
The mercenary group is said to have been active in Ukraine, Libya, Syria and the Central African Republic, among other places.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused the Wagner Group last week of supporting the military junta in Mali under the guise of fighting jihadists.
He accused Moscow of lying about the status of the mercenary group.
"When it comes to mercenaries who are Russian veterans, have Russian weapons, and are being transported by Russian planes, it would be surprising if the Russian authorities didn't know about it," he said.
“What we also want to see, of course, is full respect for human rights and international humanitarian law”
The presence of the Wagner mercenaries was indirectly confirmed on Friday by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The involvement of the mercenaries in the conflict in Mali must not impair the "goals" of the United Nations, Guterres warned with regard to the cooperation between the Malian army and the UN mission MINUSMA.
"What we also want to see, of course, is full respect for human rights and international humanitarian law."
A UN spokesman announced on Friday that the United Nations is currently investigating reports of an alleged massacre in the Central African Republic last week, in which soldiers from the country and mercenaries from the Wagner Group are said to have been involved.
An investigation is underway to determine the "number of casualties and displacements" from the incident, the spokesman said.
Irrespective of this, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has rejected the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr. "We won't give way, we won't make it that easy for the Russians," said the SPD politician to the "Welt am Sonntag". »Moscow will not succeed in persuading the West to withdraw almost automatically by sending mercenaries to wherever Russia does not want to see us.«
Mali, with around 20 million inhabitants, has experienced three military coups since 2012 and is considered to be extremely unstable politically.
Since the last putsch in May, the country has been led by a transitional military government.
Islamist terrorist groups have been troubling the crisis-ridden state for years.
The former colonial power France is active in the region with thousands of military in the fight against terrorism.
The Bundeswehr is deployed in Mali with a good 1,350 soldiers as part of the EUTM and the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA.
dop/AFP/dpa
