Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Mali for the first time on Monday amid a Kremlin rapprochement with the African country’s military coup junta, as the military has distanced itself from the Western community to the point of calling for the departure of French troops involved in the fight against jihadist groups on its territory.
Since the last coup in May 2021, the junta has staged a rapprochement with Russia, including the deployment of mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which has been denounced on numerous occasions by Western countries.
Lavrov arrives in the country with the intention, according to the official communiqué of the Malian Foreign Ministry, «to boost a new dynamic in the relations of friendship and bilateral cooperation» during the two days he will stay there, following the invitation extended to him at the end of the same year by his Malian counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop, during a meeting in Moscow.
Lavrov will thus meet both his counterpart and the current strongman of the African country and «president of the transition», Colonel Assimi Goita, during meetings aimed at «strengthening partnership in priority areas, including defense and security, as well as economic and trade and cultural cooperation».
«The visit will strengthen the high-level political dialogue between the two countries and renew their mutual commitment to consolidate the strategic partnership for peace, security and development,» concludes the Foreign Ministry statement, posted on its Facebook page.
The Russian minister will arrive in Mali after a first leg of a tour that has taken him to South Africa, Angola and Eritrea. Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania await him.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
