No reason to intervene

Judging from the summary of the UN report on the events that took place in Moura, Mali, from March 27 to 31 2022, the completion of the UN peacekeeping mission to stabilise the situation in the country will be postponed indefinitely (“UN experts call for probe into possible war crimes by Russia’s Wagner in Mali”, January 31).

Despite the official statement of the representative of the government of Mali, Abdoulaye Maiga, that “among the dead there were only terrorist fighters”, Western media and officials are already calling the country’s leadership a “junta”, demanding an independent investigation of the events in Moura, and declaring a desperate need for foreign help “to fight violent extremism” in the region.

In addition, the reasonable demand by the government of Mali that at least some evidence be provided to support the accusations made in the report has been deliberately ignored, and there has been no comment on the illegal use of satellite intelligence over Moura.

The wave of information about the so far unsubstantiated report, with the exception of poor-quality graphic images that do not allow for identification of participants, has gone out to the West to push for the resumption of military missions in the Sahel region.

According to the logic of this agenda the goals of these missions should be expanded from antijihadist to revisionist aims in relation to the actions of the authorities of the Sahel countries in their fight against terrorism.

Abdulai Kondewa Freetown, Sierra Leone