US says its African partners don't want the Wagner Group in their countries

Washington DC: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that his African partner do not want the Wagner Group in their countries. Addressing a closing press meet for the African leaders summit in Washington DC, he said that the US has heard concerns related to Wagner and groups that had been deployed in at past in countries including the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali and Libya.

According to Blinken, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin’s infamous Wagner Group has left a trail of havoc and violence “quite literally across the continent of Africa” in pursuit of mineral wealth and other “exploitative goals”.

“We have heard repeated that Wagner and groups that are linked to it manufacture or exploit insecurity, they threaten stability, they undermine good governance, they rob countries of mineral wealth, they violate human rights. And we have heard that and seen that again and again, Blinken said.

“If you go back to 2017, Wagner forces have deployed to the Central African Republic, they’ve deployed to Mozambique, to Mali, to Libya, and at the same time we’ve seen disinformation campaigns that are furthering the exploitative goals that Wagner and its founder have quite literally across the continent of Africa,” Blinken said.

Blinken went on to add that what he heard in conversations during the 2022 US-Africa Leader’s Summit is what he have been hearing in the past. “Our partners in Africa tell us that they do not want their resources exploited. They don’t want the human rights of their people abused. They don’t want their governance undermined, and ultimately, as a result, they really don’t want Wagner.”

In a post on Twitter, Blinken said, “As the #USAfricaLeadersSummit has shown, we are committed to our partnerships across Africa. Leveraging the best of our countries — including government, the private sector, and civil society — we are empowering our nations and the future of our global community.”

As the #USAfricaLeadersSummit has shown, we are committed to our partnerships across Africa. Leveraging the best of our countries—including government, the private sector, and civil society—we are empowering our nations and the future of our global community. pic.twitter.com/RRaOq17Ky2

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 16, 2022

The statement by Blinken comes within fortnight after the United Stated, earlier this month, added Latin America adversaries Cuba and Nicaragua as well as Russia’s Wagner Group to a blacklist on international religious freedom, opening the path to potential sanctions.

In a statement issued in the beginning of December this year, Blinken said the Wagner Group was being designated due to involvement in abuses in the Central African Republic, where nearly a decade of bloodshed has had religious overtones.

“The United States will not stand by in the face of these abuses," he had said.

In Africa, the US is locked in a conflict with China, Russia whose footprints have fast expanded in the continent.

Meanwhile, the Wagner Group forces have proven to be a dangerous component of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. China and Russia have encouraged African societies to regard the US as heir to imperial Western powers reviled across Africa, but Ghana’s anxiety about Wagner Group operations in neighboring Burkina Faso turned the tables on Russia.

With inputs from agencies

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