Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have appealed to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take action against Ukraine over Kyiv’s “support for terrorism in Africa”. This was reported by Channel 5 with reference to a joint letter from the three countries, Komersant ukrainskyi
reports
The document states that the African foreign ministers strongly condemn “the support and glorification of terrorism by the leadership of Ukraine, and call on the UN Security Council to fulfil its obligations regarding Kyiv’s conscious choice to support terrorism in Africa, especially in the Sahel region.”
Earlier, Mali and Niger, where pro-Russian military juntas have recently been in power, announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
The incident occurred in late July, when Tuareg rebels attacked a Wagner unit near the Algerian border, resulting in numerous casualties among mercenaries and the Malian military.
A representative of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, said that the rebels had received the necessary information to carry out the operation, effectively acknowledging Kyiv’s involvement in the attack.
This statement provoked a sharp reaction from the Malian government, which accused Ukraine of supporting terrorism in Africa and violating Mali’s sovereignty and international law. The Government of Mali announced the immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Ukraine and stated its intention to appeal to the judicial authorities regarding the statements of Ukrainian representatives.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the decision of the transitional government of Mali to sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine “short-sighted and hasty” and promised to respond at the political and diplomatic level.
The ministry also noted that Ukraine supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries and “strongly rejects” the transitional government’s accusations of Ukraine’s alleged “support for international terrorism”.
The Ministry recalled that in the twentieth century, as one of the founders of the United Nations, Ukraine actively supported the right of the peoples of Africa to independence and decolonisation, including the Republic of Mali.
It is worth noting that the day before, Sergey Lavrov had made a tour of Africa, stopping in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea. This was his sixth visit to the African continent in the last two years.
According to British intelligence, since 2014, Russia has made significant efforts to secure influence in Africa, and the Wagner PMC has often been used as one of its favourite instruments of influence in the region.
Russia has recently increased its military presence in Niger. The African Corps of the Russian Ministry of Defence was deployed to Niger in April 2023 and announced its intention to replace US troops in northern Niger, and in May 2024, it entered the base where US troops are stationed in the country. The United States, in particular, intends to withdraw all US troops from Niger by 15 September 2024.