Wagner Group to withdraw from Mali after “Mission Performance”

The Wagner Group has announced that he is withdrawing from Mali, following what he called “Completing his main mission” in the West African country.

The Russian rental group has been working there since 2021, working with the military to challenge Islamist fighters.

In a message from his telegram channel, Wagner said he had “fought terrorism side by side with Mali people,” killing “thousands of fighters and their commanders who have terrorized civilians for years.”

The message of the withdrawal comes on the same day when the announcements that the Malian soldiers have withdrawn from a major base in the center of the country after it has fallen under a second deadly attack for less than a week.

Mali has been fighting a belligerent Islamist rebel for more than a decade.

Following the allegations that the government was unable to cope with this uncertainty, the military took power several years ago.

The French troops, which were originally arranged to help the civil government, left the country in 2022. Until then, the junta, which was responsible for Mali, had already started working with Russian mercenaries to combat rebels.

In recent weeks in the Sahel country in Sahel, the Sahel country in the Sahel country in recent weeks.

Last Sunday, a group associated with al -Qaeda said there was raised a major attack on the city of Bulichey And the Army base there.

More than 30 soldiers were killed, according to sources cited by Reuters news agency.

Then on Monday the same group – Jama’a Nusrat Ul -islam wa al -muslimin (JNIM) – said it was aimed at the military in the historic city of Timbuktu, with residents reporting hearing shooting and explosions.

The rebels also attacked an army post in the village of Mahow in the southeastern region of Sikasso, killing five.

The locals told the News Agency AFP that the soldiers withdrew from the Bulkes base after a new attack on Thursday led to numerous deaths.

A military source said the departure was “strategic” and “at the request of the hierarchy,” the news agency reported.

Increased attacks in the Sahel region have sparked concerns about Wagner’s efficiency in the region.

Although the paramilitary group has announced their exit from Mali, Russian forces will still play an active role in the country’s security landscape.

Africa Corps fighters – a rival Russian rental force designed to take over the activities of Wagner on the continent – will remain in Mali.

Russia has an increasing military, political and economic influence in West and Central Africa.

The announcement on Friday does not indicate whether Wagner will leave the Central African Republic, where his African headquarters is located.