Year: 2021

BAMAKO, MALI —

Mali's military government has denied hiring Russian mercenaries from the controversial Wagner Group, which has been sanctioned by the European Union for rights abuses. France and 15 other Western nations last week condemned what they said was Russia's deployment of Wagner fighters to Mali. Mali's transitional government says it is only engaged with official Russian military trainers. Analysts weigh in on Russia's military involvement in Mali as French troops are drawing down.

Mali’s transitional government this month denied what it called “baseless allegations” that it hired the controversial Russian security firm the Wagner Group to help fight Islamist insurgents.

Western governments and U.N. experts have accused Wagner of rights abuses, including killing civilians, in the Central African Republic and Libya.

The response came Friday after Western nations made the accusations, which Mali’s military government dismissed with a demand that they provide independent evidence.

A day earlier, France and 15 other Western nations had condemned what they called the deployment of Wagner mercenaries to Mali.

The joint statement said they deeply regret the transitional authorities’ choice to use already scarce public funds to pay foreign mercenaries instead of supporting its own armed forces and the Malian people.

The statement also called on the Russian government to behave more responsibly, accusing it of providing material support to the Wagner Group’s deployment, which Moscow denies.

The Mali government acknowledged what it called “Russian trainers” were in the country. It said they were present to help strengthen the operational capacities of their defense and security forces.

Aly Tounkara is director of the Center for Security and Strategic Studies in the Sahel, a Bamako-based think tank.

He says it’s hard to tell if the Russian security presence is military or mercenary but, regardless, would likely be supporting rather than front-line fighting.

This could allow the Malian army to have victories over the enemy that will be attributed to them, says Tounkara, which was not the case with the French forces. He says the second advantage is that victories over extremists could allow Mali’s military to legitimize itself. We must remember, says Tounkara, that one of the reasons for the forced departure of President Keita, was that the security situation was so bad.

Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown in an August 2020 coup led by Colonel Assimi Goita after months of anti-government protests, much of it over worsening security.

Goita launched a second coup in May that removed the interim government leaders, but has promised to hold elections in 2022.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been pushing Mali’s military government to hold elections.

ECOWAS in November expressed concern over a potential Wagner Group deployment to Mali after unconfirmed reports that the military government was in talks with the mercenary group.

Popular protests in Bamako have called for French forces to leave Mali and last year some protesters were seen calling for Russian ones to intervene.

Since French forces first arrived in Mali in 2013, public opinion on their presence has shifted from favorable to widely negative.

The French military has been gradually drawing down its anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane forces from the Sahel region.

French forces this year withdrew from all but one military base in northern Mali, saying the Malian armed forces were ready to take the lead on their own security.

But analysts say one consequence of the French leaving is that the Malian army is seeking other partners.

Boubacar Salif Traore is director of Afriglob Conseil, a Bamako-based development and security consulting firm.

"Official Russian cooperation would be very advantageous for the Malian army in terms of supplying equipment," he says. "Mali, and many African countries, notably the Central African Republic, have concluded that France does not play fair in terms of delivering arms. Every time these states ask for weapons, either there’s an embargo or there is a problem in procuring these weapons. Russia can provide these weapons without constraints and it’s precisely that which interests Mali."

In September, Mali received four military helicopters and other weapons bought from Russia.

The Malian transitional government’s statement Friday did not elaborate on what the Russian trainers would be doing in Mali.

When asked to comment, a government spokesman would not elaborate and referred questions to the ministry of foreign affairs, which does not list any contact numbers on its website.

Source: Voice of America

BANJUL —

Gambia's Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to President Adama Barrow's recent election victory on Tuesday, ruling that the petition had not followed proper procedure, court documents showed.

Barrow won the Dec. 4 poll with 53% of the vote. Runner-up Ousainou Darboe, who got about 28%, and two other candidates refused to accept the results, citing alleged problems at polling stations without providing evidence.

Darboe's United Democratic Party (UDP) petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the results the following week despite election observers having said the poll was conducted fairly.

The court dismissed the petition on the grounds that Darboe's party had failed to serve Barrow within five days of filing it, which violated the Gambia's fair trial procedures, judicial sources said.

"The UDP failed to comply with the requirement of Rule 11 of the Election Petition Rule, which required that you file a motion of petition and security," Chief Justice Hassan B. Jallow wrote in the judgment.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Darboe said that he did not consider the court's decision a personal loss, since the petition was dismissed on a procedural technicality rather than on the merit of its claims.

"We have not lost anything because the petition was not dismissed based on merit but a mere technicality," Darboe said. "We should be Proud of ourselves for what we have done and will continue to do for Country."

Supreme Court decisions are final and cannot be appealed. Darboe did not indicate whether he or his party would continue to challenge the election results.

Source: Voice of America

YAOUNDE —

Cameroon's military has released health workers detained for several days who were working for the aid group Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF. The military says the workers were helping a wounded rebel leader, who also was detained, and they are still being investigated. MSF has condemned the detentions, the latest incident between the group and Cameroon's military.

Cameroon's military alleged that MSF this week deliberately engaged in a clandestine operation to exfiltrate armed rebels.

In a statement, the military says Mbu Princely Tabe and Bessong Eugene, two self-proclaimed separatists generals contacted MSF Sunday to help fighters wounded in a battle with Cameroon government troops in Tinto, a southwestern farming village.

The statement by military spokesperson, Army Captain Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo, says after a tipoff, an ambulance belonging to MSF was intercepted by the military in Nguti with Mbu Princely receiving treatment inside the ambulance. Nguti is a commercial town in Cameroon's English speaking Southwest region.

The military said one of the rebel generals, Bessong Eugene, died and was buried in the bush before MSF arrived to save the lives of wounded fighters.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, the governor of Cameroon's Southwest region, says he is surprised that MSF decided to help a dreaded self-proclaimed separatist general who was wounded in an armed battle with government troops. He says the dangerous fighter has killed many civilians and destroyed a great deal of property, including public edifices. Bilai says MSF was helping the criminal known by the Cameroon government troops as a terrorist to escape from the military.

Bilai said two MSF staff held by the military for questioning were released after two days but gave no further details.

MSF has denied it was helping any rebels to escape from the military. In a statement, MSF said Sunday the aid group contacted Cameroon military authorities and informed government troops of plans to transfer a wounded patient for medical assistance at Mutengene, another English-speaking southwestern town.

MSF says its ambulance was intercepted by government forces and taken to a different location. In the statement, MSF says it treats people based on medical need, regardless of their background or affiliations.

Felix Agbor Balla, a human rights lawyer and founder of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, says MSF is working in accordance with the Geneva conventions, which require people wounded in conflicts to be treated humanely without any adverse distinction based on sex, race, nationality, religion, political opinions, or any other similar criteria.

Balla says MSF cannot give the identities of all the people it is treating to the military as requested by the government.

"If Doctors Without Borders starts informing the government in detail of each and every patient, then the independence, the confidentiality is no longer there. Government is trying to put Doctors Without Borders in harm's way," said Balla. "I would recommend that Doctors Without Borders and the government should sit down and have a discussion. Government can criticize Doctors Without Borders, but we should not forget the wonderful work that Doctors Without Borders has been doing in this country."

MSF has been in Cameroon since 1984. The aid group gives medical assistance to people suffering Boko Haram atrocities in Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria. MSF provides surgical care, malaria treatment and treatment for COVID-19 patients in Cameroons restive English-speaking southwest region. The group says it treated more than a million patients in Cameroon in 2020.

In 2020, Cameroon suspended MSF from carrying out activities in the English-speaking northwest region. The government accused MSF of having close relations with separatists who are fighting to create an independent English-speaking state. The aid organization strongly denies the accusations and says its only goal is to save lives.

The U.N. says the separatist crisis that began in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2017 has killed more than 3,300 people and displaced 750,000, both internally and to neighboring Nigeria.

Source: Voice of America