Washington sanctioned three senior Malian officials on July 24, 2023 for having assisted in the deployment of Wagner in Mali: the current Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, General Alou Boï Diarra, head of the air force and his deputy, Colonel Adama Bagayoko.
These three high-ranking Malians are therefore subject to economic sanctions by the US Treasury. Individual sanctions, which are not directed against the Malian people “, assures the American Treasury.
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Concretely, the three Bamako officials will see their possible assets in the United States frozen and are prohibited from carrying out transactions with any American person or company.
For Washington, these three officers facilitated ” rooting of Wagner in Mali, both outside their country, via a cooperation agreement concluded with the paramilitary company. Agreement negotiated during trips to Russia in 2021 then 2022.
Its main architect would be the Colonel Camara, current Minister of Defense and pillar of the Transition. Other advanced information about the latter: he is, according to Washington, a French citizen.
The United States also points to the support provided to the mercenaries, this time directly on Malian soil: material, logistical, but also economic support. By allowing the exploitation of gold in particular, the three officials of Bamako have for the American Treasury, ” paved the way “to spoliation” sovereign resources » and to « human rights violations “.
Two months earlier, another pillar of the Wagner system in Mali had been sanctioned by the US Treasury: the Russian Ivan Maslovrelay of Evguéni Prigojine in Bamako.