USAID Sends Tens of Millions to Mali Amind tensions with France, ECOWAS and presence of Russian mercenaries
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As reported by Lecourrier-du-soir.com, the United States Embassy in Mali has released 148.5 million dollars, 101 billion FCFA, to help alleviate the looming crisis in food security, health, education, and agriculture. The US embassy in Bamako made the announcement on its website on Friday, October 7th.
The USA has made this move regardless of the decline of relations between France and Mali, economic sanctions imposed by the country’s neighbors, and the arrival of Wagner’s Russian mercenaries requested by the Malian state to neutralize terrorist groups based in the north of the country.
Although the United States Embassy in Mali said the aid is a continuation of efforts undertaken since 1961, critics allege that the USA’s move is intended to stab France in the back and take control of the Sahel, an area very rich in natural resources and coveted by all Western powers.
In spite of being rich in natural resources, Mali has been devastated by a decade of war against terrorism in its northern part and general political instability. The west-African country is in the midst of a diplomatic war against its former colonial power France and was recently slammed with ECOWAS sanctions for unconstitutional changes of government following a coup by its now interim president Colonel Assim Goïta.
According to a press release by the embassy, it is said Abdoulaye Diop, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Miriam Lutz, Mission Director for the American program for International Development USAID, penned an agreement that will see Mali receiving tens of millions in aid, with the US$148.5 being only a part of the total package.
The financial aid will assist 300,000 farming families in obtaining fertilizers and seeds for a successful farming season and evade food export dependency, it is said.