Colonel Sadio Camara was sought by the US Treasury Department for transporting Russian Wagner Group militants into the nation.
On Monday, Washington banned Malian Defence Minister Colonel Sadio Camara, alleging the African country’s links with the Russian private military business Wagner Group.
In a statement on its website, the US Treasury Department accused Camara of assisting the group’s “malicious activities in Mali.” The Treasury further stated that Camara travelled to Russia multiple times in 2021 “to solidify the agreement between the Wagner Group and the Malian transition government to deploy the Wagner Group to Mali.”
Colonel Alou Boi Diarra, Mali’s chief of staff of the Air Force, and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Adama Bagayoko, were also banned. They were accused of aiding the movement of Wagner fighters within the country.
“These officials have made their people vulnerable to the Wagner Group’s destabilising activities and human rights violations while paving the way for the Wagner Group’s operations in Ukraine to benefit from their country’s sovereign resources,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said.
Mali, which has been facing an Islamist insurgency for a decade, is said to have struck an agreement with Wagner until 2021. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at the time that Malian authorities requested the company’s assistance in combating “terrorists.” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stated that “Russian instructors” are training the country’s army.
The African country has relied on its right to seek security arrangements from any party it thinks proper. “We will no longer justify our choice of partner.” “Russia is here on Mali’s request and responds efficiently to our strategic needs,” Diop said during a press conference with Lavrov in February.
Mali has experienced political instability in recent years, including coups in 2020 and 2021. French troops left the country last year, while the United Nations terminated its ten-year peacekeeping mission in Mali on June 30. In both cases, officials in Bamako said that foreign presence had failed to address the country’s security concerns.
The Wagner Group partially migrated to Belarus after its founder and leader, tycoon Evgeny Prigozhin, launched a failed mutiny in Russia last month. After the mutiny, Lavrov confirmed that Russian experts will continue to work with Malian authorities.
