General Salifou Mody, one of the Niger officers that seized power in a military coup last week, and other officers flew to neighboring Mali on Wednesday to meet with its rulers, amid speculation of a possible partnership with Kremlin-backed Wagner private military company.
Mali’s transitional President, Assimi Goïta, hosted Mody and a large Nigerien military delegation on Wednesday, a week after a coup, according to the Mali Presidency.
Mody called the meeting part of a complex regional context, and thanked Malian authorities for their support and accompaniment since the seizure of power, referring to the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland where Mody is Vice President.
The meeting on Wednesday was attended by Mali’s defense minister, who has been sanctioned by the United States for facilitating Wagner’s involvement in Mali.
“It’s public knowledge that the Malian junta is linked to Wagner, they are protected by Wagner, they replace any Western troops with Wagner,” Kiari Liman-Tinguiri, Niger’s Ambassador to the United States, said in an interview on Wednesday.
In a brief address on Malian television, General Modi applauded the very good relationship between Mali and Niger on security issues. He is scheduled to travel to Burkina Faso next, where military leaders have moved closer to Russia in recent months.
US officials have warned that the Russian mercenary group could now seek new opportunities in Niger. “I would not be surprised to see Wagner attempt to exploit this situation to their own advantage as they’ve attempted to exploit other situations in Africa to their own advantage,” State Department Spokesperson, Matt Miller said Wednesday.
Miller added that any attempt by the military leaders in Niger to bring the Wagner forces into Niger would be a sign, yet another sign that they do not have the best interests of the Nigerien people at heart.”
Hundreds of Wagner contractors are stationed in Mali at the invitation of the country’s military junta, to quell an Islamist insurgency brewing in an area where the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger meet.
Wagner group, led by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, has 1,500 troops in Mali and allied with the military regime. Prigozhin celebrated Niger’s coup, offering services, but operational control remains unclear. Niger seeks support from Russia-backed African nation. Niger’s military takeover challenges France and the US’s alliance against Islamist insurgents.
