On the program, a strengthening of military cooperation but nothing, at this stage, on the private company Wagner.
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
During a recent visit to Moscow, Abdoulaye Diop, the head of the Malian diplomacy, stressed that his government had as a priority the stabilization of the country. And for that he is counting on the help of Russia, “a strategic and pragmatic partner“.
The rapprochement between Mali and Russia is confirmed and displayed. It is part of the diversification of partners and friends, according to the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Abdoulaye Diop also met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on November 11. During a joint press conference, the minister of the transitional government said his country was going through a difficult situation, that it was still threatened with partition, and that it needed help.
“We would like to be able to count on Russia, a realistic and pragmatic partner which has demonstrated its effectiveness in the fight against terrorism in other theaters of operation”
Abdoulaye Diop, Malian Minister of Foreign AffairsPress conference in Moscow, November 11, 2021
For the head of the Malian diplomacy, it is in no way a question of “outsourcing” the security of the country, but of acquiring “all the means” allowing the Malian forces to carry out this mission. He talks about strengthening military cooperation including equipment and training. A scenario that recalls the beginning of the Russian intervention in the Central African Republic in 2018 with the deployment of “instructors”, who were none other than paramilitaries from the private company Wagner. But at this stage, Mali ensures that no such contract has been signed.
This rapprochement between Mali and Russia is part of the “great return to Africa” initiated at the end of 2014 by President Vladimir Putin. Like other great powers, Moscow is interested in the African continent and is establishing itself there by highlighting its aid and military expertise. After the Central African Republic, it is Mali which is now asking for Russian assistance by highlighting a terrorist risk reinforced by the partial withdrawal of French troops.
Paris undertook in June to reorganize its military system in the Sahel, notably by leaving its three northernmost bases in Mali to refocus it around Gao and Ménaka, on the borders of Niger and Burkina Faso. This new approach was interpreted as a disengagement by the transitional government.