US Department of State: Wagner endangers UN personnel in Africa

US State Secretary Antony Blinken has said that Wagner Group was discussed on the margins of the summit, as well as, in a meeting with President Akufo-Addo of Ghana.  

Blinken made the remarks at the US-Africa summit in Washington on December 15, Caliber. Az reports, citing the US Department of State.

“We’ve heard repeated concerns that Wagner and groups that are linked to it manufacture or exploit insecurity, they threaten stability, they undermine good governance, they rob countries of mineral wealth, they violate human rights.  And we’ve heard that and seen that again and again,” he noted.

“If you go back to 2017, Wagner forces have deployed to the Central African Republic, they’ve deployed to Mozambique, to Mali, to Libya, and at the same time we’ve seen disinformation campaigns that are furthering the exploitative goals that Wagner and its founder have quite literally across the continent of Africa.  There are United Nations investigations that detail the targeting of minority groups, the killing of civilians in Central African Republic, in Libya, in Mali by Wagner forces.  I called out Wagner recently in a report that we put out on international religious freedom for its activities in the Central African Republic,” Blinken said.

“These investigations have documented human rights abuses.  They’ve documented recruitment and use of child soldiers.  And they’ve also documented the exploitation of resources that Wagner engages in.  And we’ve also seen Wagner interfere with UN peacekeeping operations, endangering peacekeepers, endangering United Nations personnel.  It’s a long litany of bad things,” he added.