Wagner stays, UN peacekeepers have to go...

The growing power of Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa is believed to be behind the sudden termination of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali. BizNews speaks to Dr. Robert Zuber, director of the UN-based Global Action to Prevent War and Conflict. He was at the UN Security Council meeting on Friday last week to ratify a plan for the drawdown. He feels the Wagner Group was “partially responsible” as they were able and are able to promise - if not deliver - security to Mali without the pressure that the UN is putting on Mali to return to democratic government, to hold elections, and to fully honour the peace agreement. US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has accused Wagner of using its operations in Mali both to obtain revenue for the group and its leader, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, as well as to procure weapons and equipment to further its involvement in the war in Ukraine. The US has now sanctioned Wagner’s Mali “facilitator” Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov who has worked “closely” with Prigozhin’s entity Africa Politology and senior Malian government officials on weapons deals, mining concerns, and other activities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices