July 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States Department of the Treasury has announced on Monday a package of sanctions against several Malian government officials for allowing the deployment of the Wagner Group in the African country, where both Malian soldiers and mercenaries from said group have been accused of committing the killing of hundreds of people.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three military and government officials for “facilitating the deployment and expansion of the company’s activities” and stresses that these measures “are not directed against the Malian people,” according to a statement.
“These officials have made their people vulnerable to the destabilizing activities and human rights abuses of the Wagner Group while paving the way for the exploitation of their country’s sovereign resources for the benefit of the Wagner Group’s operations in Ukraine,” said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Washington has appointed Mali’s defense minister, Colonel Sadio Camara; the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Colonel Alou Boi Diarra; and the Vice Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Adama Bagayoko.
Camara organized the deployment, making trips to Russia to consolidate the agreement between the mercenaries and the Government. For his part, Diarra, during his previous position as head of Air Logistics, “contributed significantly to the logistics movement of Russian entities to Mali”, formulating together with Camara the plan that brought the Wagner Group to the country.
Lastly, Bagayoko “acts as a defender” of the group before the transitional government of Burkina Faso to ensure its deployment in the neighboring country. According to reports from the Department, it has also tried to facilitate the access of Russian mercenaries to gold mining in Mali.
The Wagner Group has committed widespread Human Rights abuses and has exploited and appropriated natural resources in various countries in Africa. While acting as a proxy military force of the Kremlin, the Wagner Group has carried out combat operations around the world, including in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
