Thriving Amid Turmoil: Wagner Group’s Expansion in Africa Boosts Russia’s Influence in the Continent

 

Russia has been boosting its influence in Africa via Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group, to contain conflicts from spiraling into a full-fledged war. There are thousands of Wagner group fighters in Africa. 

The Kremlin has been using this notorious mercenary group as one of its most influential foreign policy tools. Following the weekend mutiny, an attempt to overthrow the Russian army, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assured Moscow’s allies in Africa that Wagner group fighters in Africa will not be withdrawn. He told Russia Today that instructors and private military contractors would remain in Mali and CAR. Wagner has the biggest presence in these two countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Seizing Lavrov’s words, The Sentry, an anti-corruption organization, accused the Prigozhin-led group of trying to take over CAR’s national resources – gold and diamonds. It highlighted that Wagner’s fighters have been undergoing “ultraviolent techniques of torture and killing”, including cutting fingers and legs, removing nails, strangling and burning people alive. The Sentry claimed that the mercenary group has significant control over CAR’s political and military leadership, including the country’s president Faustin-Archange Touadera. 

Sources, as per Sky News, said the fighters only kill villagers, either bury them or throw them into the bush. They claimed to have undergone training – interrogation, aggressive techniques, torture, violence and commando training – by a Russian instructor. The training lasts one to six months. It involves firearms training, espionage, hand-to-hand combat and torture techniques. Moreover, the Wagner group has tightened its grip on CAR’s economic resources by leveraging President Touadera’s need for security and protection. 

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) says Russia wants to really build up diplomatic support in Africa and use it in the U.N. Thomas Graham, CFR’s distinguished fellow, pointed out that the Wagner group went to Africa for its own reasons, to make money. Besides CAR, Wagner’s presence is in Libya, Sudan and Mali. It has supported African governments against rebel groups. But it’s a give and take relationship. To keep President Touadera safe against rebel attacks, the Wagner subsidiaries got unrestricted logging rights and control of Ndassima gold mine. 

The Wagner group also has a hold on the digital space. Prigozhin established the Internet Research Agency (IRA), and the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC) – online troll farms. IRA had persons in Nigeria and Ghana create political divisions in the U.S ahead of the 2016 presidential election and AFRIC was engaged in election monitoring in several African countries. 

Russia’s weekend mutiny has news media reports alleging the Wagner group of human rights violations and regional insecurity. But the Kremlin maintains the group is either into combat troops or extracting precious resources in Africa. However, the Kremlin’s relation with Wagner is now extremely sensitive and vulnerable. Only time will tell where Wagner’s loyalties lie.