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A cargo airplane delivered 4 helicopters, weapons and ammunition from Russia to Mali late on Thursday, Malian interim defence minister Sadio Camara stated.
He stated Mali had purchased the helicopters in a contract agreed in December 2020 to help its armed forces of their battle alongside French, European and UN troops with insurgents linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda.
“Mali purchased these helicopters from the Russia Federation, a pleasant nation with which Mali has at all times maintained a really fruitful partnership,” he instructed native media on the tarmac after the airplane landed within the capital Bamako, including that the weapons and ammunition got by Russia.
The supply comes at a second of tense relations between Mali and its key army associate France over studies Bamako might recruit Russian mercenaries as Paris reshapes its 5 000-strong counter-terrorism mission within the area.
READ HERE | Mali approaches ‘Russian personal firms’, slams France at UN
Diplomatic and safety sources have instructed Reuters that Mali’s year-old army junta is near recruiting the Russian Wagner Group, and France has launched a diplomatic drive to thwart it, saying such an association is incompatible with a continued French presence.
In the meantime Mali’s prime minister on Saturday accused Paris of abandoning Bamako in a speech on the United Nations.
Mali’s protection minister Sadio Camara says the supply of 4 Russian-made military helicopters, arms and ammunition exhibits the folks’s want to assist reinforce the troops. I am fairly certain most Malians produce other priorities than buying new gear for the military. https://t.co/kxwRPLQJ8h
— Katarina Höije (@katarinah) October 1, 2021
Responding to this cost for the primary time, President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday questioned the legitimacy of the Malian authorities overseeing a transition to elections after two coups in simply over a 12 months.
“What the Malian prime minister stated is unacceptable. It is a disgrace. And that dishonours what is not even a authorities,” he instructed Radio France Worldwide.
Reuters has been unable to succeed in the Wagner Group for remark.
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