The Wagner mercenary group may continue its destabilizing security operations in Africa even after its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin launched — and later abandoned — an uprising against Russia’s military leaders, a White House official said.
(Bloomberg) — The Wagner mercenary group may continue its destabilizing security operations in Africa even after its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin launched — and later abandoned — an uprising against Russia’s military leaders, a White House official said.
“We have no indication that Wagner is decreasing its intent to exploit African countries despite the events of last weekend,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.
An open question after the mutiny was how Prigozhin’s fall from grace in Russia will impact the global operations of his mercenary force, which has a strong presence on the front lines of the war in Ukraine as well as in Syria and several African nations, including Mali and the Central African Republic.
In Mali, security has not improved despite the Malian regime spending hundreds of millions of dollars on security, with terrorist attacks and violent crime increasing since Wagner deployed in December of 2020, Kirby said on Friday.
The US government has frequently blasted the Wagner Group for its destabilizing and exploitative activities in Africa, where the private paramilitary company has numerous contracts to provide security in hostile, unstable environments. Senior officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken have warned African nations against partnering with Wagner, criticizing the group for fueling even more violence than they stop, committing human rights abuses, and siphoning off natural resources revenues.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it’s up to African nations whether they continue their contracts with the Wagner group.
“There are direct agreements between governments of African countries and Wagner private military company,” Lavrov said in a televised briefing. “The fate of these agreements between African countries and Wagner PMC will be decided primarily by the governments of the relevant countries and depending on their interest in continuing such cooperation on providing security to the authorities.”
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