US Sanctions Top Malian Officials Over Alleged Wagner Ties

Facts

• The US Treasury Department on Monday announced sanctions on three Malian officials, including the minister of defense, over accusations that they facilitated the deployment and expansion of the Russian Wagner Group's activities in the country.¹
• The sanctioned officials, who were allegedly “instrumental' in Wagner’s entrenchment in Mali, are Defense Minister Colonel Sadio Camara, Air Force Chief of Staff Colonel Alou Boi Diarra, and Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Adama Bagayoko.²
• While Col. Camara and Col. Diarra reportedly planned and organized Wagner's deployment to Mali, Col. Bagayoko is allegedly assisting the mercenary group in getting access to gold mines in Mali and expanding operations into Burkina Faso.³
• The Malian government did not immediately comment on the sanctions, which will involve freezing the US assets of its subjects and generally bar Americans from doing business with them.¹
• On the same day, Human Rights Watch published a report alleging that the Malian army — together with up to 1K Wagner fighters — have committed summary executions and several other abuses against civilians, a claim that the Malian Foreign Affairs Ministry has vowed to investigate.⁴
• Wagner has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, especially since the onset of the war in Ukraine last year. The group is deployed in Syria and a number of African countries, though Moscow has said that Wagner's future in Africa will depend 'on the countries involved.'⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Al Jazeera, ³BBC News, ⁴Associated Press and ⁵Africanews.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Fox news. Wherever Russia's Wagner mercenaries go, brutality soon follows. Wagner's moves in Africa have only made conflicts across the continent worse, and, in the case of Mali, have led to a massive increase in violence against civilians. International pressure must be applied against this mercenary force.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Rt international. Unfortunately for the West, the days of colonialism are over, and African countries are free to choose their international security partners. The Malian government had every right to ask for Wagner's intervention in the country's war against terrorism, and the US is once again showing its hubris by trying to disrupt that autonomous decision.

Predictions