The presumed death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in Russia has prompted no official reactions from countries where his mercenaries are known to operate.
Officials at the interim National Assembly in Mali have taken the junta’s line – denying the country has any involvement with Wagner.
“We have no links with this person. We do not know him personally. Therefore we have nothing to say about this”- the Junta told the BBC.
An official at Burkina Faso’s information ministry also denied any links with the Wagner boss.
Guinean officials also said they are not in the capacity to talk about the incident and are awaiting more details.
Officials in Central African Republic (CAR), where the mercenary outfit has worked since 2018, say they have little information. They added that they still doubt Prigozhin was on the plane that crashed near Moscow on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Prigozhin appeared in a video that was posted on Telegram. The location of the video suggested he was in Africa when it was recorded.
He said new Wagner fighters were being recruited for deployment to Africa so his group could make the continent “more free”.
Wagner has several thousand troops in at least five African countries. The group has also been accused of involvement in massacres in Mali as well as atrocities in CAR.
Western analysts fear the group was seeking to widen its reach into other countries. There are fears they are present in Niger, where a coup has just taken place.
Putin breaks silence on Prigozhin’s plane crash
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has spoken for the first time about the plane crash in which it is said that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin died.
He said news of his presumed death came after his return from Africa.
“Only yesterday [Wednesday] returned from Africa. He met certain official persons there,” the Russian leader said.
Wagner is a key pillar of Russian foreign policy. The group’s forces have helped to prop up governments in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya in exchange for lucrative mining rights.
