Mali denies the presence of private military companies in the country

The government of Mali issued an official statement categorically denying accusations of placing employees of a private military company on its territory.

The country’s cabinet called the statements of Western countries about the Mali authorities contracting with private military companies “Wagner” as “false”.
The government stressed that such baseless accusations must be supported by evidence “from independent sources”.

The country’s authorities indicated that they are engaged exclusively in an “interstate partnership” with Russia, and called on Western countries to rely on real actions and events, and not on rumours. At the same time, Wagner was not directly mentioned in the statement.

Earlier, the heads of foreign ministries of the European Union member states approved sanctions against the Wagner PMC and Mali for “undermining the democratic transition of power” in this country.

The European Union’s human rights sanctions regime was introduced on 7 December 2020.
Persons subject to the embargo cannot travel within the European Union and their assets are frozen.