[Aljazeera] France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has accused Russian private military contractor Wagner Group of plundering Mali’s resources amid heightened tensions between Paris and the country’s military government in recent weeks, including over the fate of European forces deployed in the region to fight armed groups.The US army last week estimated hundreds of Wagner personnel were in the Sahel state, but the country’s ruling army has denied this.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply since Mali’s army led by Colonel Assimi Goita staged a coup in August 2020.
Former colonial power France has thousands of troops deployed in the Sahel state, which has been struggling to contain a rebellion that first emerged in 2012.
The Wagner mercenaries are "former Russian soldiers, armed by Russia and accompanied by Russian logistics", Le Drian said.
"They are already at the moment helping themselves to the country’s resources in exchange for protecting the junta. They are despoiling Mali," he told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in remarks published on Sunday.
The United Nations, France and local groups say the Wagner Group is also present in the Central African Republic.
"Wagner uses the weakness of certain states to implant itself... to reinforce Russia’s influence in Africa," Le Drian added, though he said it did not seek to replace the Europeans in the region.