End of Barkhane: but what exactly are Wagner’s Russian mercenaries doing in Mali?

The last soldiers of Operation Barkhane left the operational platform in the Gao desert on Monday, ending nine years of French intervention in Mali. They were quickly replaced by the Malian Armed Forces (Fama). Were mercenaries from the sulphurous Russian private company Wagner accompanying them? “Generally, as soon as the French soldiers leave a base, Wagner replaces them in stride with the Fama”, indicates to the Parisian Mathieu Pellerin, Sahel analyst for the International Crisis Group.