Tag: Wagner
France Rebuilds Influence After Sahel Retreat
Nothing about France's presence in Africa was ever going to vanish. Some twenty African states use French as an official language, fourteen share a currency pegged to the euro, and the commercial and family networks running between Paris and the continent outlast every government now in office. What collapsed in…
Moscow Blames Ukraine as Mali Allies Falter
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko has accused Ukrainian military personnel of creating a “second front” against Russia in Africa, naming Mali and Libya.Borisenko told TASS that Ukrainians were training Islamist fighters in Mali to use drones and alleged that Ukrainian instructors helped attack the Russian tanker Arktik Metagaz off…
Lavrov’s Africa Tour Signals Trouble for Moscow’s Sahel Allies
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Niger this week promising deeper military cooperation with Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the three military governments that make up the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES. The timing tells its own story. Moscow’s closest partners in the region are under pressure, and…
Wagner Remnants Run Drug Trade in Africa
Roughly 500 fighters from Russia's Wagner Group remain based up the Ubangi River in the Central African Republic, controlling a tramadol trade that lets them exploit the country's gold and forest resources beyond the reach of local law enforcement or Moscow itself, according to The Wall Street Journal. Tramadol, an…
