Pak Sahafat – The White House announced on Friday local time that the United States of America is deeply concerned about the “destabilizing activities” of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian militant group Wagner, and his group in Africa.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency, John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications and spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in a webinar on Friday local time that since 2016, Wagner has infiltrated African countries such as the Central African Republic and more recently Mali, “undermining their sovereignty, stealing their natural resources and killing their people.”
Referring to Prigogine’s rebellion against the Russian army, Kirby added: “There is no sign that Wagner has given up his intention to exploit African countries after recent developments.”
The White House official added that Wagner is playing a “deadly and poisonous” role in Mali, where he has been working since December 2021.
The strategic communications coordinator of the US National Security Council continued: Our information shows that the interim government of Mali has paid Wagner about 200 million dollars since the end of 2021. This money could be better used for life-saving humanitarian efforts, good governance and development projects for the people of Mali.
Kirby pointed out: Despite the payment of these hundreds of millions of dollars, Wagner has not improved the financial security situation and instead has brought more bloodshed and created the ground for the exploitation of terrorist groups.
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He once again emphasized that the United States will continue to work with its allies to counter the threats posed by Wagner in Africa and other regions.
“We will also take further steps to hold Wagner accountable in Mali or anywhere else where the group’s destabilizing activities continue,” he said.
The military government of Mali asked the United Nations to immediately withdraw its peacekeeping forces from this country.
The UN peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA was launched in Mali in 2013.
Senior US diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis told the Security Council: We deeply regret the decision of the Interim Government of Mali to abandon Minosma and the harm this decision will cause to the people of Mali.
But he said the reason for America’s vote for this resolution was because of Washington’s agreement with the timetable for the withdrawal of UN forces from Mali.
According to the UN procedure, conducting a peacekeeping mission requires the approval of the host country.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that what is less known is that Prigogine helped engineer the withdrawal in line with Wagner’s goals. We know that Mali’s senior officials worked directly with Prigogine’s representatives to inform the UN Secretary-General that Mali no longer agreed with the continuation of the Minosma mission.