Abuja, Nigeria
—
Wagner, a feared Russian mercenary group known for staging a failed mutiny against Moscow and accused of committing serious abuses against civilians in Africa, is being replaced on the continent by another Russian paramilitary.
According to experts, its successor is the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps.
For years, Wagner, financed by the Russian government and hailed for his “courage and heroism” by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023, has embodied Moscow's military offering in the Sahel, a semi-arid region of west and north-central Africa stretching from Senegal to Sudan.
However, with Wagner withdrawing from swaths of the region, plagued by recurring coups, armed rebellions and extremist insurgencies, it appears the Kremlin wants to replace him with a controlled, but unofficial, army.
Putin revealed during a Russia-Africa Summit by 2023, the Kremlin had “concluded military-technical cooperation agreements with more than 40 African countries, to which we supply a wide range of weapons and equipment.”
The Kremlin is to some extent filling the void left by Western troops, who expelled by several Sahel governments between 2022 and this year as anti-Western sentiments reverberate across the region.
At a time when the West has largely turned its attention elsewhere, from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine to tensions with China, Russia has become a sought-after security partner both inside and outside the Sahel.
In parts of the region, such as Mali, where Wagner suffered some of its worst known lossesWith dozens dead in a rebel ambush a year ago, its forces have joined the local military in the fight against insurgents.
Wagner's successor is not autonomous. Unlike the mercenary group, the paramilitary Africa Corps is under the auspices of the Russian Defense Ministry, according to the group's official Telegram channel.
The corps is made up of elite combat commanders from the Russian army. “Priority” recruitment was also given to current and former Wagner fighters, according to a message posted on the Africa Corps Telegram channel. revealed in January 2024.
Members of the Africa Corps have since returned to the battlefield, carry out joint operations with the Malian army against the militias.
Wagner announced in June that he was leaving Mali, one of the troubled countries in the Sahel, saying he had completed a three-and-a-half-year mission to fight insurgents in the junta-ruled West African country.
A similar departure for Wagner was mentioned in the Central African Republic (CAR), the nerve center of the group in Africa.
Wagner has operated in CAR since 2018 and became the dominant force in the central African country following the final. exit of French troops in 2022. In CAR, he is widely credited with helping the country avoid collapse.
However, earlier this month, Central African military officials told the Associated Press that the Russian Defense Ministry had asked the country's authorities to replace Wagner with the African Corps and pay for his services in cash.
Wagner's remuneration for military services rendered to the CAR, which include protecting the president, reconquering territories conquered by rebels and keeping armed groups at bay, “is carried out in an extremely hidden and discreet manner” by the Central African government, Martin Ziguélé, an opposition deputy who served as prime minister from 2001 to 2003, told CNN in January.
As a result, it is unclear how exactly Wagner's services are paid for. However, previous CNN investigations find that companies linked to former Wagner leader Eugene Prigojine had won concessions to mine gold and diamonds in the CAR, where almost 70% of the population lives in extreme poverty – the fifth highest poverty rate worldwide, according to a World Bank assessment in 2023.
Prigozhin was killed in plane crash northwest of Moscow in August 2023, two months after launching a failed rebellion against Russia's military rulers.
Neither a government spokesperson nor CAR's defense or communications ministers responded to CNN's request for comment on the alleged planned pivot to the African Corps. CNN has also not received a response from Russian authorities.
Communications Minister Maxime Balalou told CNN in January that a bilateral defense agreement “allows Russia to provide us with weapons,” as well as “the care and training of our defense and security forces, (and) the assistance of our armed forces on the ground.”
The Africa Corps has already arrived in other parts of Africa, according to the Africa Corps Telegram channel, operating in West African countries. Niger And Burkina Fasoboth governed by juntas.
It is unclear whether the body operates in central Africa's Equatorial Guinea, which hosts about 200 Russian military instructorsaccording to a Reuters report published late last year. Equatorial Guinea has been led by the same leader for 46 years.
Russia's decision to replace Wagner in Africa could be a “strategic rebranding by Moscow,” according to Héni Nsaibia, senior analyst at crisis monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).
“With the Wagner name severely tarnished after the mutiny and Prigozhin's death, Russia is likely consolidating its foreign military projects under formal state control by erasing the 'Wagner' brand while retaining its primary functions under a new name like the Africa Corps,” Nsaibia said in written responses to CNN.
“In this way,” he added, “Moscow can distance itself from the mercenary discourse while maintaining a strong presence in the region.”
Institutionalizing its military engagement in Africa could benefit the Kremlin in other ways, Nsaibia said.
“The Africa Corps aims to give Moscow greater control over operations, and potentially more international legitimacy, and less legal and reputational risks,” Nsaibia explained.
Wagner has faces prosecution human rights groups following accusations of human rights violations.
The European Union sanctioned the Wagner Group and individuals and entities linked to it in 2021 And 2023. Among those sanctioned in 2023 are “the leader of the Wagner group in Mali, where Wagner mercenaries have been involved in acts of violence and multiple human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, as well as various prominent members of the group in CAR,” the EU Council said.
United Nations experts have also called for a 2023 independent investigation on the alleged crimes committed by the Wagner group and the Malian army.
Their statement said: “The lack of transparency and ambiguity about the legal status of the Wagner Group… creates a general climate of terror and total impunity for the victims of the Wagner Group's abuses.”
Malian authorities have rejected these allegations, adage that the country “was determined to prosecute and punish proven perpetrators of human rights violations.”
Although many questions remain regarding Wagner's operations in Africa, opinions are divided on the impact of his counterterrorism operations with local militaries on the continent.
“I don't see what Wagner brought to the battle (against the terrorists),” said security consultant Mamadou Adje.
“Since they (Wagner's forces) joined the fight, jihadists have spread across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, causing many civilian casualties,” Adje, a retired Senegalese colonel who previously served in Mali and Burkina Faso under the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, told CNN.
As for replacing Wagner with the Africa Corps in some countries, “I don't see much change on the battlefield,” Adje said.
According to Nsaibia, Wagner helped the Malian army “win tactical and strategic victories, including the reconquest of rebel strongholds.”
Nonetheless, he added, the group leaves behind “a state on the brink of collapse.”
Earlier this month, U.N. delegates told the Security Council that security across the Sahel is “deteriorating rapidly” and that terrorist activity in parts of the region has intensified “in scale, complexity and sophistication, including through the use of drones, alternative Internet communications and increasing collusion with transnational organized crime.”
Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Under-Secretary-General and Africa Director of the UN Development Program (UNDP), warns that security challenges in the Sahel are “beyond the capabilities of national governments” and global support is therefore needed.
What matters, however, is that any aid from external actors is “well-intentioned,” she told CNN, adding: “We do not promote any form of support from the military or security side that undermines human rights, regardless of its origin.” »
