Lavrov vows aid for West Africa’s fight against militancy

Bamako, Mali (AFP):

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has pledged assistance to West African states battling insurgency as Moscow seeks to expand its influence on a continent in a diplomatic tug-of-war between global powers.

Lavrov hailed the alliance that has been forged between Moscow and Bamako in fighting “extremists” on his first visit to Mali, which Russia’s top diplomat described as “historic.”

“We are going to provide our assistance to them to overcome these difficulties. This concerns Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad and the Sahel region generally and even the coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea,” Lavrov told a press conference in the capital Bamako.

Mali had long relied on former colonial power France for military assistance in fighting the insurgency. But Paris pulled troops out of the West African nation last year after rising concerns about French intervention in the region.

Since seizing power in 2020, Mali’s ruling junta has brought in Russian planes, helicopters and paramilitaries to strengthen its fight against militant groups.

France says the Russian operatives are Wagner mercenaries — a private military group that Moscow has allegedly deployed in Syria and Ukraine.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the UN have implicated Wagner and the Malian army in an alleged massacre at Moura in central Mali last March in which several hundred people were rounded up and killed.

The landlocked state is the epicentre of an insurgency that began in northern Mali in 2012 and spread to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.

Thousands of civilians have died across the three countries, and millions have fled their homes.

Sporadic cross-border attacks have also taken place in Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast in recent years.

‘Neo-colonial’ West 

After former colonial power France wound down its long-running military presence in Mali, similar tensions have broken out with the Burkina Faso junta.

The French military contingent there, a unit of special forces numbering around 400 men, is to be withdrawn this month.

Lavrov promised Mali further military support and declared Russia’s wider backing for Africa in the face of what he described as the West’s “neo-colonial approach.”

“We are going to provide our support for resolving problems on the African continent,” he said.

“We always start from the basis that African problems must be resolved by African solutions.”

While Moscow woos African leaders — some of whom have refused to publicly condemn the war in Ukraine — the United States has launched its own diplomatic offensive on the continent, which is also being courted by China.

Russia summit 

At their joint press conference, Lavrov and his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop said junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita would attend a Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg in July.

Lavrov told journalists that thanks to Russian support, “Mali has been able to carry out effective operations.”

Diop hailed Moscow’s provision of cereals, fertiliser, and fuel to the poor, landlocked nation.

The two men defended their alliance and dismissed accusations of human rights violations by foreign fighters in the country.

“We are not going to continue to justify our choice of partners… Russia is here at Mali’s request, and Russia responds effectively to Mali’s needs” by strengthening its defense capabilities, said Diop.

Less than 48 hours before Lavrov’s visit, the junta announced the expulsion of the UN’s human rights envoy to the country.

“Human rights are being instrumentalised, politicised for hidden agendas,” said Diop.