Iran Press/ Commentary: Issa Konfourou announced that he was decisive in highlighting the concerns of the countries of the Sahel region about the impact of the West-supplied arms on the security of Africa, because as he says it was proved that a major part of the arms sent to Ukraine ultimately was used to escalate terrorism in different parts of Africa and increase disability in the region.
Raising such issues by different circles and figures including the Malian representative in the UN indicates that the Western countries seek multifaceted purposes the most important of which are the contribution to the growth of the Western military industry and the empowerment of terrorist groups.
An Iranian expert Ali Sharifinia considers Ukraine the only excuse for the West, especially for the US, under the cover of which it can pursue its crisis-making policy:
"This means that Ukraine acts as a platform of smuggling modern weapons to different parts of the world, including the countries of the African Sahel region. Either weapon brokers have been more active or the facilities the Western circles allow for in their smuggling weapons from Ukraine have eased the transference of weapons from Ukraine to other regions."
Therefore, Konfourou called on the countries sending arms to Ukraine to ensure that the weapons would not be received by the extremist groups in Africa, because Mali wants no more to be the arena of proxy wars between the world powers.
Yet, Mali's concern about the weapons, taking into account the coups conducted in Africa, is rational, as the militants attacked the Malian army in the northwest of the country in July which left much damage to the country's army and government.
After the attack, Mali and then Niger cut their diplomatic ties with Ukraine due to support for the terrorists, as the Ukrainian Defense Mister said. Also, according to the US media, the West knows well that the countries adjacent to Ukraine are a deposit of arms sent by the Western countries, particularly the US. The American journalist Simon Hirsh believes that Poland, Romania, and other countries are overwhelmed with the weapons that were supposed to reach Kyiv, but the arms are reported to be sold by the Ukrainian commanders to smugglers in the very European countries.
More interesting is that the West is well aware of the black market of arms in Ukraine because numerous reports have been released in the US media, on one hand, the media try to support the US position, thus hiding the truths about the Ukrainian war and whitewashing the US crimes in Ukraine the scope of which has extended to Africa, on the other hand.
Russian officials have also repeatedly warned of smuggling Western weapons beyond Ukraine’s borders; an issue, they say, has worsened security in other parts of the world.
The Spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova announced in last year's October that NATO military supplies sent to Kyiv ended up in the hands of terrorists, extremists, and criminal groups in the Middle East, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. At that time, she estimated the financial flow of trading smuggled arms one billion dollars. The money can provide a part of the costs of the war for the Ukrainian government.
The weapons and their smuggling in Europe and Africa could bring about harsh security challenges to different parts of the world.
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