INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions aimed at disrupting gold mining activities that fund the Wagner Group in Africa, vowing to
previously planned but were briefly put on hold as U.S
officials sought to avoid appearing to favor a side in a power struggle between the mercenaries' chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian
President Vladimir Putin.The Treasury Department announced sanctions against Midas Resources, which operates mines in the Central African
accused of handling finances for Prigozhin's dealings in Diamville."The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting
natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali," Treasury sanctions official Brian Nelson said in a
statement."The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group's revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa,
Ukraine and anywhere else."The Wagner Group has been contracted by military regimes in Africa and played an increasingly violent role
that everywhere that Wagner goes, they bring death and destruction in their wake
They hurt local populations, they extract minerals and extract money from the communities where they operate," Miller told reporters."And so
we would continue to urge governments in Africa and elsewhere to cease any cooperation with Wagner," he said.The UN human rights body last
central Malian town of Moura in March 2022.Prigozhin, as part of a deal with the Kremlin, was allowed to travel to Belarus, the Russian
ally's strongman Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Tuesday.Lukashenko's decision to welcome Prigozhin marks "another example of him choosing
the interests of Vladimir Putin and choosing the interests of the Kremlin over the interests of the Belarusian people," Miller said.
