Western powers on the UN Security Council, led by the US, accused Russia of using mercenaries to exploit natural resources in African countries to finance the war in Ukraine. Moscow denied this.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on Thursday that the US is concerned about the actions of the Wagner group, security company near the Kremlin which is present in several African countries under agreements signed with the respective governments.

The diplomat denounced a "strategy of exploitation of the natural resources of the Central African Republic, in the MaliHe said that the actions of the mercenaries are "documented" and "irrefutable".

"The ill-gotten gains are being used to finance Moscow's war machine in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine," said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who accused the mercenary company of "exploiting" the countries, which pay for their services with gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources.

"Africans are paying a high price for the Wagner group's exploitative practices and human rights violations," he insisted.

We all have an interest in countering the illicit trafficking of natural resources in Africa.

Today, I spoke at the @UN Security Council about ways we can work together to do just that.

My full remarks:https://t.co/IvEInsstkh

- Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) October 6, 2022

"Predatory strategy"

It's not just the US that has addressed the issue. The UK has also warned that "private military companies" are taking resources from Africa and underlined his "concern about the activities of the Wagner group" on the continent.

France, for its part, called on the international community to pay more attention to the "predatory strategy of Wagner's mercenaries", whose presence in several African countries It responds in part, according to Paris, to the goal of controlling the gold and diamond mines.

Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, responded to the allegations, accusing Washington of "anti-Russian anger". He also said that Russia's intervention was only "assistance" and regretted that Thomas-Greenfield had raised the issue of "Russian support for African partners".

The case of the Russian mercenaries came up in a debate on how armed groups and terrorists finance themselves through the illicit trafficking of Africa's natural resources, at a session convened by Gabon, which chairs the Security Council this month. (DW)