At first their presence is just a rumor, later it becomes a shared secret. Thousands of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group are active in several African countries. In the Central African Republic, for example, according to the Russian ambassador, 1,890 “Russian trainers” supported government troops in the civil war.

Up to 1,200 mercenaries Wagner they are said to be fighting alongside rebel leader Khalifa Haftar in Libya. According to observers, the pro-Russian and anti-Western military junta in Mali has also brought in hundreds of fighters from the Wagner group, who are accused of serious human rights abuses there.

“Over time, the Wagner group has grown beyond private military services into a network of relationships with companies in various African countries,” said analyst Julian Rademeyer of the civil society network Global Initiative Against International Organized Crime. of Crime” (GIATOC) to DW, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “They operate in this gray zone between more or less illegal activities and cover the whole area well,” he says.

Sudan, Russia’s “key country” in Africa

Especially in Sudan the mercenaries of the Wagner group are long-standing and numerous. Even during the rule of dictator Omar al-Bashir the gold mining licenses went to the Russian company “M-Invest”, which is allegedly controlled by the oligarch and boss of the group WagnerYevgeny Prigozhin. Thus, the people of the Wagner group also took on the task of securing the company’s gold mining activities.

In 2017 Sudan’s then-dictator Al-Besir and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Sochi to herald a “new phase” of cooperation. Al-Bashir promised Putin that Sudan could serve Russia as a “key country for Africa.” In return he secured military support, which ultimately did not prevent his downfall in April 2019.

Although Sudan occasionally tries to return to a constitutional order, mercenaries remain in the country and have further increased their influence in the Sudanese military. The deal was that the military government retains control of Sudan under any circumstances and receives active support from Russian mercenaries, while the Kremlin has access to other profitable gold mines.

According to reports observers say Russia is primarily interested in securing access to Sudan’s valuable raw materials. In addition to gold, these include manganese and silicon. Uranium deposits are also of particular interest to Russia, which is seeking to satisfy Africa’s hunger for energy.

Wagner as a vehicle for Russian influence in Africa

Analyst Julian Rademeyer sees the Wagner group primarily as an instrument of the Kremlin for its growing economic and military influence in Africa. Sudan is just one of many examples. With his colleagues he recently published a report on the overall activity of the Wagner group in Africa. “It is the most important Russian actor in Africa today and its activities are a bad influence on the continent,” he says.

Russia is fighting for greater influence in Africa. The Wagner team is just as helpfulas well as the visits of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but also the agreements for military cooperation and even, in some cases, the free deliveries of food and fertilizers. Perhaps as a thank you, Moscow was able to record 15 abstentions from Africa in the latest UN resolution on the war of aggression in Ukraine. Eritrea and Mali sided even more clearly with Russia, rejecting the draft resolution.

“Attractive proposition” for African governments

The Kremlin uses mercenaries as an “instrument of diplomacy in Africa,” according to a representative of the research collective “All Eyes on Wagner” in an interview with DW, using the pseudonym Gabriel. He emphasizes that the local mercenaries belong to subsidiary companies. “In Russia, private military companies are banned, but to some extent they are allowed to operate outside of Russia,” says Gabriel. “And every time the Kremlin gives permission to the team Wagner to develop its activities in Africa”.

For cash-strapped African governments, it can be very attractive to pay for the Wagner group’s services with mineral rights or market access, Gabriel believes: “They don’t have to withdraw money from their account. They can simply say: Here, you can exploit this mine for 25, 50 or 100 years, without any problems…”.