Blinken echoes concerns about Wagner Group in Africa

STORY: During a closing news conference for the African leaders summit in Washington D.C., Blinken said he had heard concerns related to Wagner’s forces that had been deployed in at past to countries like the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali and Libya.

The Wagner group is a private military contractor with close ties to the Kremlin. Its forces are known to be fighting in parts of Ukraine.

On Thursday, France's foreign ministry said the Burkina Faso government was fully aware of the risks of working with mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group after Ghana alleged on Wednesday that Burkina Faso had hired the group.

Paris and its European allies pulled thousands of troops countering Islamist militants in neighbouring Mali earlier this year as relations deteriorated with the military junta after it agreed a deal with Wagner, which is staffed by Russian army veterans, to operate in the country.

Speaking to reporters alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo alleged that Burkina Faso had hired the mercenaries.