Not my area of expertise, but these reports are about several recent coups in the southern Sahel which used to be French colonies, and where the French usually kept the peace, but now we see the Wagner group manipulating the local military and of course the Muslim charity money that is diverted into jihadi groups.
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Strategypage has an article on what is going on in Mali:
apparantly the Wagner group, is now considered as formally Russian troops, and the government will have to deal with the Russian Government
Backstory is the head of the Wagner group attempted a coup against Putin and died in an accident (/s).
so what is important about Mali?
Gold
Mali is a major producer of gold and the Russians have always been willing accept payments in gold. Russia maintains a huge gold stockpile (about 2,300 tons), the fifth largest in the world. The Russian gold is an emergency fund that is now being tapped to pay for military operations in Ukraine.
backstory:
The military government in Mali had hoped that hiring Russian Wagner Group mercenaries would enable Mali to maintain control of northern and central Mali. ...
The problems began when the military government ordered the independent French Barkhane counter-terrorism force out of Mali and it was gone by the end of 2021. Since then, Mali forced the 15,000 UN peacekeepers to start withdrawing. The government forced the French and G5 peacekeepers out by the end of 2021.
lots of details at the link. cated article on what is going on in Central Africa.
again not my area of expertise.
But this part is about refugees in Malawi:
August 10, 2023: Malawi is seeking emergency funds and donations to feed more than 50,000 refugees who are crammed into the Dzaleka Camp. This is the only refugee camp in the country. Most of the refugees in Dzaleka are from Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia. The government says the camp will run out of food by December 2023. Foreign aid groups have already cut food supplies because of funding shortages. The government says it needs an additional $6.3 million in order to feed the refugees through June 2024. There are also about 8,000 refugees living outside the camp and are regarded as illegal migrants by the government that they are trying to relocate.
sigh
Refugees are a world wide problem.
I wonder how many of those the fleeing to Europe is due to such disorder.
