How France is trying to stop Russian mercenaries in Africa

Miltos Sakellaris

A different flag with red, white and blue stripes has appeared during recent protests in French-speaking West African capitals: the flag of Russia.

In particular, during the Burkina Faso coup on September 30, protesters attacked the French embassy and a French cultural center amid rumors that France was hosting the ousted president or planning to intervene militarily.

“This was all disinformation,” French officials pointed out, pointing the finger at Russia for “internal interference.” Similar anti-France protests and attacks on French missions have taken place in Mali and Chad. Many officials in Paris are trying to gauge how widespread pro-Russian and anti-French sentiment is in the volatile Sahel region — and where exactly those flags are coming from.

Tellingly, 10 senior French officials, who declined to be named, briefed Axios and two other US news outlets on France’s evolving strategy in Africa during meetings in Paris this week.

One name kept popping up in these meetings: Yevgeny Prigozhin, the oligarch and Putin ally who founded the Wagner group and allegedly oversees an army of online trolls. The latest French estimate is that 2,400 Wagner mercenaries are in Africa, mostly in Mali and the Central African Republic. Both countries have effectively severed ties with France in favor of Russia.

Wagner has also appeared, with mixed results, in Libya, Madagascar and Mozambique. France had remained the dominant power in West Africa long after decolonization, but Russia’s influence there appears to be growing despite the war in Ukraine. French officials they believe that Prigozhin and perhaps the Kremlin itself are funding online campaigns and local NGOs that spread anti-French narratives.

The Kremlin has also increased its overt contact with African leaders in recent years, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov making several visits. The French armed forces have created an information warfare unit focused on detecting and countering “information attacks” that flow from Russia.

This is part of a strategy to “neutralize Wagner in Africa” ​​by arguing that the group does not provide security but brings “murder and exploitation”, says one official.

France claimed earlier this year that it foiled an attempt by Wagner mercenaries to dig a mass grave in Mali and blame it on French troops.

“We’re not competing against Wagner, we’re competing against a Russian effort to drive France and the West out of Africa,” the same official said, adding: “We’re really busy.”


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