Washington imposed sanctions on July 24, 2023 on three senior Malian officials for supporting Wagner’s operation in Mali: current Defense Minister Sadio Camara, Air Force Chief General Alou Boï Diarra, and his deputy Colonel Adama Bagayoko.
These three senior Malians are therefore subject to economic sanctions by the US Treasury Department. The US Department of the Treasury assures that individual sanctions are “not directed against the Malian people”.
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Specifically, this means that the three Bamako officials’ possible assets in the United States will be frozen and they will be banned from conducting transactions with American individuals or companies.
For Washington, these three officers facilitated Wagner’s “anchoring” in Mali, both outside their country, through a cooperative agreement with the paramilitary company. The deal was negotiated during trips to Russia in 2021 and then in 2022.
Its main architect would be the Colonel Camara, current Secretary of Defense and pillar of transition. Further expanded information on the latter: He is a French citizen, according to Washington.
The US also refers to the support of the mercenaries, this time directly on Malian soil: material, logistical, but also economic support. By allowing the exploitation of gold in particular, the three Bamako officials “paved the way” for the US Treasury Department to plunder “government resources” and “human rights abuses.”
Two months earlier, another pillar of the Wagner system in Mali had been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department: the Russian one Ivan MaslowRelay of Evguéni Prigojine in Bamako.
Also Read: Wagner Group Will Continue Activities in Mali and Central African Republic, Says Russian Diplomacy