Mali, Wagner Incursions into Mauritania Spark Tension

ADF STAFF

Diplomats from Mali and Mauritania have been working hard to avert a border crisis between the neighboring West African countries.

In April, Mauritania accused the Malian military (FAMa) and its Russian mercenary partners of chasing armed men across the border into the villages of Madallah and Fassala.

“Several of our civilian compatriots were killed by the Malian army and fighters from the Wagner Group in Mauritanian camps on the border. We sent evidence to Bamako,” a Mauritanian security source on the border told Agence France-Presse.

Relations between the countries have been mostly friendly for decades, but complex security challenges linger along the porous 2,237-kilometer border.

Mauritania hosts the largest number of Malian refugees in the Sahel region, including more than 91,263 Malians who live in camps in the Hodh Chargui border region in the southeast, according to the World Food Programme.

Large-scale repatriations are not expected, as Malians continue to flee widespread violence from Taureg separatists, multiple violent extremist organizations and abuses at the hands of Russian mercenaries and FAMa. A large terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida is known to operate in the border area.

On April 19, Mauritania summoned the Malian ambassador in Nouakchott, Mohamed Dibassi, to “protest against the repeated attacks against innocent and defenseless civilians,” a Mauritanian foreign ministry statement said, adding that the “unacceptable situation persists despite the warnings our country has issued.”

The following day, Mauritanian Defense Minister Hanana Ould Sidi visited Malian junta leader Assimi Goita in Bamako in an attempt to de-escalate the tension.

In response to the cross-border attacks on its southeastern villages by Russian Wagner Group mercenaries and FAMa, Mauritania conducted military drills near the border on May 5 with Lt. Gen. Mokhtar Bellah Shaaban, commander of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, on hand to urge “constant vigilance.”

“The aim of the visit was to determine the readiness of the combat units and their operational level, learn about their logistical needs and test infantry weapons, artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, missile launchers and combat aircraft,” the Armed Forces of Mauritania said in a statement.

“Aviation, artillery and special forces participated in destroying a hypothetical enemy who attempted to infiltrate the national territory for the purpose of carrying out an aggressive act.”

Between May 4 and 5, Sidi and Mauritanian Interior Minister Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine met with citizens in several villages along the Malian border. Sidi pledged to bolster the military’s presence in the area and said Malian authorities assured him that they have enacted plans to prevent any further intrusions into Mauritanian territory.

“We would like to express our regret, our pain and our condemnation of the events which affected our fellow citizens, both in the border villages and within this sister country of Mali,” Lemine said, according to Mauritanian newspaper L’authentique.