AFRICOM’s chief warned Mali about the Wagner Group. It didn’t work.

WASHINGTON ― America’s top commander for Africa said Thursday he personally urged Mali’s ruling military junta not to invite in Russian mercenaries the Wagner Group before it did just that.

The West African country’s transitional government has reportedly allowed in as many as 1,000 mercenaries from the Russian private contractor since December, highlighting competing efforts by Russia and the U.S. to wield influence in the region. The private military company has been linked by the U.S. government to a former Russian intelligence officer with deep Kremlin connections.

Mali had been the center of western counterterror efforts, and instability in the Sahel is expected to rise as France ends its nine-year troop presence there. France maintains 4,300 troops in West Africa and is repositioning troops that had been in Mali.

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command , said Mali’s transitional government invited Wagner because it thought it would do a better job than the French against violent extremist groups plaguing the country.

“When I learned of this, I traveled to Mali and I met with the president there ― the junta president there, and I explained that I thought it was a bad idea to invite Wagner in because we’ve seen them in Syria and other places in Africa,” Townsend said of his meeting with the junta’s leader, Col. Assimi Goita.

“Wagner obeys no rules. They won’t follow the direction of the government,” Townsend continued. “They won’t partner more effectively. I think they will only bring in bad.”

According to Townsend, the president said he was dealing only with Russia’s defense ministry. That conflicts with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement last month that the state has nothing to do with Russian military contractors in Mali, Townsend noted.

The Wagner Group, which is establishing its base camps, may make some initial gains, but it’s already suffered some casualties at the hands of violent extremist groups there, Townsend said.

“Mercenaries from the Kremlin’s Wagner Group offer their services for profit: regime protection resource exploitation, and horrific violence against Africans such as we see in Ukraine today,” Townsend said.

United Nations experts last year urged the Central African Republic to cut ties with Wagner, accusing the private security force of violent harassment, intimidation and sexual abuse.

In a sign of Russia’s potential influence on the African continent, a U.N. resolution this month to condemn the invasion of Ukraine saw just 28 of the 54 African countries ― or roughly half ― vote in favor of the resolution, Brookings noted in a recent report.

In the Mideast and Africa, there are fears that war between two of the globe’s main producers of grain will create food insecurity and then instability. Townsend and U.S. Central Command’s Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said they expect Ethiopia, Egypt and Jordan to need added humanitarian aid as a result.

Amid the war, McKenzie said he hasn’t seen much movement of fighters from Syria, where there are thousands of Wagner Group mercenaries. Earlier this month, Putin approved bringing volunteer fighters from the Mideast to Ukraine.

The Wagner Group tried to enlist some of its units in Africa to fight in Europe, Townsend told Voice of America this week. Townsend said those units would likely transfer primarily from Libya, where hundreds of Russian mercenaries are supporting eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.

华盛顿——美国驻非洲最高指挥官周四表示，他曾亲自敦促马里执政的军政府不要邀请俄罗斯雇佣兵瓦格纳集团入境，但军政府最终还是这么做了。

据报道，自去年12月以来，这个西非国家的过渡政府已允许多达1000名来自俄罗斯私人承包商的雇佣兵入境，这凸显了俄罗斯和美国在该地区争夺影响力的努力。美国政府已将这家私人军事公司与一名与克里姆林宫关系密切的前俄罗斯情报官员联系起来。

马里一直是西方反恐行动的中心，随着法国结束在萨赫勒地区长达九年的驻军，预计该地区的不稳定局势将加剧。法国目前在西非驻扎着4300名士兵，并正在重新部署此前驻扎在马里的部队。

周四，美国众议院军事委员会举行听证会，美国非洲司令部司令斯蒂芬·汤森将军表示，马里过渡政府邀请瓦格纳是因为他们认为瓦格纳在打击困扰该国的暴力极端主义团体方面会比法国做得更好。

“当我得知此事后，我前往马里，会见了那里的总统——军政府总统，并解释说我认为邀请瓦格纳集团来马里是一个糟糕的主意，因为我们在叙利亚和非洲其他地方都见过他们，”汤森德在谈到他与军政府领导人阿西米·戈伊塔上校的会面时说道。

“瓦格纳不遵守任何规则。他们不会听从政府的指示，”汤森德继续说道。“他们不会进行更有效的合作。我认为他们只会带来坏事。”

据汤森德称，总统表示他只与俄罗斯国防部打交道。汤森德指出，这与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京上个月的声明相矛盾，普京当时表示，俄罗斯政府与在马里的俄罗斯军事承包商没有任何关系。

汤森德说，正在建立基地营地的瓦格纳集团可能会取得一些初步进展，但它已经遭受了当地暴力极端组织的袭击，并有一些人员伤亡。

汤森德说：“克里姆林宫瓦格纳集团的雇佣兵为了牟利而提供服务：保护政权、掠夺资源，以及对非洲人实施骇人听闻的暴力，就像我们今天在乌克兰看到的那样。”

联合国专家去年敦促中非共和国切断与瓦格纳集团的联系，指责这家私人保安公司实施暴力骚扰、恐吓和性虐待。

布鲁金斯学会最近的一份报告指出，本月联合国一项谴责入侵乌克兰的决议，在54个非洲国家中只有28个国家（约占一半）投了赞成票，这表明俄罗斯对非洲大陆的潜在影响力。

在中东和非洲，人们担心全球两大粮食生产国之间的战争将造成粮食不安全，进而引发局势动荡。汤森德和美国中央司令部司令肯尼斯·麦肯齐将军表示，他们预计埃塞俄比亚、埃及和约旦将因此需要更多的人道主义援助。

麦肯齐表示，在战争期间，他并没有看到太多来自叙利亚的武装人员流动，而叙利亚境内有数千名瓦格纳集团的雇佣兵。本月初，普京批准将来自中东的志愿兵派往乌克兰。

汤森德本周告诉美国之音，瓦格纳集团曾试图将其在非洲的部分部队调往欧洲作战。汤森德表示，这些部队很可能主要来自利比亚，目前数百名俄罗斯雇佣兵正在利比亚东部支持军事指挥官哈利法·哈夫塔尔。

乔·古尔德是《防务新闻》的资深五角大楼记者，负责报道国家安全政策、政治和国防工业的交汇点。他此前曾担任国会记者。