Mali, Gold and the Wagner Group

No, I don't know much about Mali, but StrategyPage notes they produce gold, and are using gold to pay for things that foreign aid used to pay for. But of course the common folk aren't getting much benefit. And they note that ordinary folk are doing what we call mom and pop gold mining (They do this in the Philippines, and it is more dangerous and more polluting than professional companies, but, again, I don't know much about this).

But they note the Wagner group, a mercenary group of Russians who are notorious for their work in the Ukraine, are there and trained local soldier to keep the government in place.

and they are paying them in gold.

The article explains that Mali threw out the French and UN peacekeepers partly because they reported on atrocities by the Govt troops and the Wagner group

But the peacekeepers are there to stop Islamic groups who are terrorists and also who threaten the government.

it's the corruption of course

The Mali peacekeeping operation costs about half a billion dollars a month and that is about the only foreign aid Mali gets now that the military government is in control. Most foreign aid was halted because the government was stealing so much of the aid. It is difficult to steal any of the money spent on peacekeepers but the government seems to be trying to do just that.

and of course the problem is that the Islamic terrorists are growing and threatening nearby states

this report from DW last week discusses the good and bad points of the Wagner group

in the past Timbuktu and Mali were a major source of gold. Lecture here discusses.

in other words, it was a civilized area when western Europe was undeveloped.