The Wagner Militants in Africa

The Russian military company Wagner used to be mistakenly called a private company. In fact, it was created by the Kremlin to perform "special tasks" that could not be officially performed by units of the regular Russian armed forces. Implementing Moscow's policy, Wagner mercenaries organized armed coups, committed war crimes, and seized raw material deposits all over the world. 

The Kremlin paid generously for the services of the Wagner group through affiliated structures. According to media reports, these were secret expenditures of the Russian Defense Ministry for numerous companies owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin. At first, he specialized in tenders for food supplies to the Kremlin and material support for the Wagner Group's base, and later received dozens of oil, diamond and other fields in Syria and Africa.

"This year, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly recognized the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism and the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization"

After the coup attempt at the end of June, relations between the Kremlin and the Wagner group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin have somewhat deteriorated. Analysts at the British Ministry of Defense even suggested that the Kremlin had decided to limit funding for its rebellious mercenaries, but this however did not violate the basic agreements. The Wagner Group continues to fulfill its tasks, particularly in Africa.

From military instructors to mass murder organizers

According to Candace Rondeaux, a senior fellow with the Center on the Future of War at Arizona State University, in her publication Decoding the Wagner Group: after the 2008 financial crisis, the fall in commodity prices, and the democratic revolutions in Egypt, Syria, and Libya hit Putin's regime, the Kremlin decided to strengthen its international presence. Russian military companies moved into the Middle East region to protect infrastructure, supply weapons to Moscow-backed armed groups, and train them. Later, the geography expanded.

Today, thousands of mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Group serve in many African countries.

Photo: The terrorist organization WagnerGroup has rapidly become the most influential form of Russian engagement in Africa today, Source: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, February 2023

Central African Republic

For example, in the Central African Republic, nearly 2,000 so-called "Russian instructors", according to the Russian ambassador, "are supporting government forces" in the ongoing civil war.

International research has shown that Wagner's group is active in areas that go far beyond security. In July, All Eyes on Wagner, in collaboration with 11 European media organizations, found that the group was making huge profits from precious tropical timber from the Central African Republic. According to the report, the Bangui government has granted the subsidiary the unlimited logging rights over an area of 187,000 hectares (722 square miles).

The situation is similar with the Ndassima gold mine. The report says that a Canadian mining company has revoked the concession in favor of a Madagascar company, which appears in the GI-TOC report as a Wagner subsidiary.

The Africa Report journalists proved that the Wagner Group imported heavy mining equipment through the Cameroonian seaport of Douala. Every week, up to three convoys of trucks are sent from Bangui to Douala to transport raw materials under the protection of Wagner militants with heavy weapons.

Libya

Wagner's fighters appeared in Libya in April 2019, by joining the forces of rebel general Khalifa Haftar, who had attacked the UN-backed government in the capital, Tripoli. The rebellion failed. The conflict ended with a ceasefire in October 2020. However, Wagner's group seized the main oil fields and bases in the country and established control over Haftar's army, making the general himself dependent. Wagner's 1,200 mercenaries continue to support the rebel leader and impede democratic transformation in Libya. According to a ВВС investigation, Wagner's men are committing war crimes in the country, including deliberate mining of civilian areas, murder and torture of civilians.

Burkina Faso 

According to U.S. intelligence data that became public through a leak on Discord, Wagner militants are also present in Burkina Faso. In late 2022, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo claimed the PMC's presence, but the junta led by Ibrahim Traoré denied these statements. Ghana and Burkina Faso soon reached an understanding and did not return to the topic.

In 2022, two coups d'état took place in Burkina Faso, both under the slogan of fighting Islamist terrorism. Groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have been waging an armed struggle against the state since 2015. France helped Burkina Faso fight against jihadists.

The All Eyes on Wagner research group reports that in 2022, Wagner's group regularly organized disinformation campaigns in the country using social media, local agents of influence, and artificial intelligence. The coverage reached 350 thousand unique views, or 15% of all social media users in the country.

In early 2023, Burkina Faso and France suspended defense cooperation.

According to the Washington Post, Wagner was rewarded for his efforts. According to Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo, Wagner was given a "mine in southern Burkina Faso" for use, where gold deposits are located near the border with Ghana.

Mali

In December 2021, Mali's pro-Russian, anti-Western military junta also invited hundreds of Wagner fighters to the country to fight Islamist militants after nearly two decades of failed Western-backed counterterrorism campaigns. For their services, the mercenaries asked for nearly $11 million a month and access to gold and uranium mines.

Since then, Wagner has regularly committed crimes in the country. According to the Human Rights Watch report, foreign fighters identified as members of the Russian Wagner group have organized enforced disappearances and carried out extrajudicial executions in the country, as well as tortured prisoners and destroyed and looted civilian property.

Wagner's group has been implicated in hundreds of human rights violations, including a massacre in 2022 that killed 500 civilians. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that most of the attacks involved foreigners, non-French-speaking armed men whom they described as "white," "Russian," or "Wagnerian."

During its presence on the African continent, Wagner's group has evolved from purely mercenary fighters to an extensive network of numerous business alliances and connections. Wagner's "gray area" of activity includes a sordid mix of violence, raiding, murder, and illegal activities partly legalized through a network of companies.

Sudan 

Sudan is one of the key countries in the Kremlin's zone of interest on the continent, as it has access to the Red Sea, which connects the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. This geography makes Sudan a convenient point for the spread of Russian influence to southern Africa.

In fall 2017, Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, who held power from 1993 to 2019, visited Russia. The meeting resulted in the signing of numerous agreements on defense assistance and agreements on the transfer of the right to extract Sudanese minerals to Russian companies. The licenses for gold mining in the CAR went to Evgeny Prigozhin's Russian company M-Invest, and members of Wagner's group were tasked with protecting M-Invest's gold mines in Sudan.

Afterwards, Wagner's men and arms shipments began arriving in the country. The Russian Ministry of Defense was responsible for the delivery of mercenaries and ammunition to Sudan with the contract for transportation services for a total value of 56 million rubles. In Sudan, Wagner's group trained al-Bashir's army and conducted disinformation campaigns.

Following several waves of protests since 2019, as well as the ouster and arrest of dictator Omar al-Bashir, Wagner's group has weakened its influence in the country. Currently, an armed conflict between the army and the local military company RSF is ongoing. In the conflict, Wagner's group supports the latter, relying on the militant leader Mohamed Dagalo. Thus, CNN and the All Eyes on Wagner research group stated that Wagner provided RSF with air defense equipment.

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After a military coup and the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum, a military junta came to power in Niger. Niger was one of the few uncompromising opponents of Russia on the continent. In particular, President Mohamed Bazoum supported Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion and even decided to join the Crimean Platform. Now, diplomatic achievements, as well as the country's overall democratic progress, are in question.

The Russian mercenary group Wagner is "taking advantage" of the instability in Niger, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently said. Despite the fact that Wagner's participation in the coup itself has not been proven, immediately "after" the rebels met with Wagner's men in neighboring Mali and asked for help. At the same time, President Mohamed Bazoum warned in his article for the Washington Post that "the entire Central Sahel region could fall under Russian influence through the Wagner group, whose brutal terrorist methods have been clearly demonstrated in Ukraine."