U.S. Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield met today with Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield expressed U.S. support for Mali’s election preparation and reform agenda and emphasized the importance of progress towards implementation. She also noted that only a government with a popular mandate could address Mali’s massive security challenges and warned that the Russian-backed Wagner Group has a record of diverting economic and natural resources away from the African continent.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield underscored the necessity for MINUSMA’ to accomplish its mission, including fulfilling protection of civilians and its human rights mandate, and cautioned that if MINUSMA is forced out of Mali, the situation will deteriorate and more Malians will suffer.
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