Christopher Michael Faulkner, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Security Affairs Department of the US Naval War College, writes in an article on The Conversation that tensions are mounting in West Africa in the wake of reports that Mali has entered into an arrangement with the Russian private military company – the Wagner Group. In the article, which can be read in full on the News Blog page of the FutureMedia website, Faulkner argues that, while “Mali’s current regime continues to adamantly deny collaborating with Wagner” the allegations are concerning as “the group actively seeks out political instability and has done little to genuinely remedy underlying issues in the states with which it contracts”. In fact, he says, “it has arguably made things more volatile for clients”.
