Russia's mutinous mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa.
The Wagner Group has established operations in several African countries, where many of its operations focus on security issues. It has often provided security services and paramilitary assistance and launched disinformation campaigns for troubled regimes in exchange for resource concessions and diplomatic support. Wagner is most active in the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, Mali, and Sudan, all of which have a tenuous relationship with the West due to colonial legacies and inherent political differences.
What does it do?
Wagner’s services vary based on the needs of its clients, which include rebel groups and regimes, and its funding ranges from direct payment to resource concessions.
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Combat operations. Wagner troops have supported African governments in combat operations against rebel groups, and vice versa. Approximately one thousand Wagner troops entered CAR in 2018 to defend the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra against rebel attacks on the capital, Bangui. In return, Wagner subsidiaries received unrestricted logging rights and control of the lucrative Ndassima gold mine. Similarly, Wagner Group forces deployed to Mozambique in 2019 to help fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State in the northern Cabo Delgado province. However, the group failed to contain the insurgency and withdrew from the area after a few months.
Security and training support. Wagner acts as a security service for vulnerable regimes. The group served as a part of a personal protection detail for Touadéra and helped train CAR’s army to prepare for possible coup attempts. Wagner has operated in Sudan since 2017, training Sudanese troops, guarding mineral resources, and suppressing dissent against the government of President Omar al-Bashir, all in exchange for gold exports to Russia. In many cases, Wagner’s support is supplemented by official Russian military assistance, such as in Mali, where the armed forces received combat and surveillance aircraft from Moscow.
Disinformation campaigns. Prigozhin also owns the Internet Research Agency (IRA), an online “troll farm,” and the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC), both of which are under U.S. sanctions and have worked alongside Wagner. The IRA previously outsourced work to individuals in Ghana and Nigeria that sought to inflame political divisions in the United States ahead of the 2016 presidential election, while AFRIC has sponsored “phony election monitoring” in several African nations, including Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Prigozhin has also been accused of co-opting Pan-Africanist movements to promulgate anti-French and anti-Western messages.
However, the group failed to contain the insurgency and withdrew from the area after a few months.
That’s a diplomatic way of saying Wagner took one ambush and fled the country with their tails between their legs. Wagner is just your typical merc outfit… they only do well when they’re fighting people who don’t shoot back.
Anyone have context on what they’ll be doing in Africa? Who are they fighting and why? Or is it more training/guarding work?
https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/what-russias-wagner-group-doing-africa has a good overview
To quote some of it:
That’s a diplomatic way of saying Wagner took one ambush and fled the country with their tails between their legs. Wagner is just your typical merc outfit… they only do well when they’re fighting people who don’t shoot back.
Sounds like what US Special Operations does on the CA side plus or minus some.
Thank you!