By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The U.S. has lifted sanctions targeting three senior officials of the Malian government for their relationship with Russia’s mercenary group Wagner, a notification from the Treasury Department says, as bilateral ties improve.
The Trump administration has put behind it concerns about dealing with military-led governments in Africa’s Sahel region, instead focusing on shared interests like the growing potency of jihadist groups.
The Malian officials delisted on Friday included Defence Minister Sadio Camara and senior military officials Alou Boi Diarra and Adama Bagayoko.
All had been sanctioned for their connections to the now largely defunct Wagner mercenary group, which Russia has since folded into its Africa Corps.
The top U.S. envoy to Africa, Nick Checker, visited Mali last month to discuss the next steps for building closer ties, according to the State Department.
Last year, Washington moved to resume intelligence sharing with Mali to support counterterrorism efforts.
Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. official who worked on Africa at the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department, said the move appeared to be part of a broader effort to re-engage with the Sahel.
“The U.S. in recent months has substantially increased its engagement with Malian authorities in an effort to restart counterterrorism cooperation and to further underline the message that the U.S. will no longer be hamstrung in its foreign policy by disengaging in countries run by military juntas,” he told Reuters.
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. lost its main spy base in the region, in neighbouring Niger, and was banned from carrying out intelligence-gathering flights, severely hobbling its ability to monitor and counter jihadists there.
Mali, along with its Sahel neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, has struggled to beat back an expanding, decade-long jihadist insurgency led by local groups allied to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The violence has spread to coastal nations and is causing a growing number of casualties.
