The Wagner Group is also active in Africa. And it's not just about the "services" that the Wagnerites provide as mercenaries. How does the "Wagner system" work? What is that group close to the Kremlin even doing in Africa?
At first, their presence is usually only rumored, and later it became an open secret. Thousands of members of the Wagner mercenary group are active in several African countries. In the Central African Republic, for example, according to the Russian embassy, 1.890 "Russian instructors" are supporting government troops in the civil war. Up to 1.200 Wagner mercenaries are active in Libya, fighting on the side of rebel leader Khalifa Haftar. In Mali, the pro-Russian and anti-Western military junta, according to observers' reports, brought several hundred Wagnerites to that country, who are accused of serious forms of human rights violations in that country.
Experts claim that the presence of the Wagner group in Africa has much more serious proportions than those mentioned. "Wagner has transformed over time from a military service provider into a network of companies active in various African countries," analyst Julian Rademeyer recently told DW at the Munich conference. "They operate in the gray zone between more or less illegal activities – and so they cover the whole spectrum very well."
Russian influence in Africa
Rademeyer works for the civil society network "Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime" (GIATOC) and with her colleagues recently published a report on Wagner in Africa. "In that report, we come to the conclusion that the Wagner group is today the most influential Russian actor in Africa and that their activities, that is, the activities of companies belonging to Wagner, but hiding it, have a bad influence on the African continent."
Russia wants to increase its influence in Africa. The Wagner group is probably one of the instruments for achieving that goal, just like the state visits of the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, to African countries, but also military cooperation and arms trade, and partly also free deliveries of food or fertilizers. Apparently as a sign of gratitude for all that, during last week's vote on the United Nations Resolution on the war of aggression in Ukraine, 15 abstentions from African countries were registered. And Eritrea and Mali with their "no" even more clearly sided with Russia.
The group, which is allegedly named after the German composer Richard Wagner, was founded in 2014 by an entrepreneur loyal to Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Since then, Wagner has established himself as an indispensable private actor representing Russian interests. Prigozhin recently publicly said for the first time that he is also behind the "Internet Research Agency" troll factory, which is active on social networks, especially in the West - in order to spread misinformation in favor of Russia. In the GIATOC report on the activities of Wagner, one can also read about campaigns aimed at influencing the attitudes of the African population.
The Kremlin uses the Wagner group as an "instrument of diplomacy in Africa" – that's what one representative of the research collective "All Eyes on Wagner" calls it in an interview with DW. That group of experts analyzes Wagner's activities around the world. The identity of the representative of that collective is known to the editorial office of DW, and in order to protect himself, he uses the pseudonym "Gabriel".
Gabriel says that the mercenaries on the spot also own subsidiary companies: "In Russia, private military companies are prohibited, but in a way it is allowed for private Russian military companies to operate outside of Russia." In addition, as he adds, "Kremlin gives permission every time for the Wagner brand to expand its activities in Africa".
Gold, wood, mines...
Marka Wagner, judging by international research, is also active in those areas that have nothing to do with security issues. In July, the "All Eyes on Wagner" collective, together with eleven other European partner media companies, announced that the Wagner group is making a lot of money from expensive tropical trees from the Central African Republic. According to the report, the government in Bangui gave one of Wagner's daughter-firms a concession for unlimited logging in an area of 187.000 hectares.
It is similar in the case of the Central African gold mine Ndasima. And there, judging by the information from the aforementioned report, a concession was taken from a Canadian mining company, which was then awarded to a company from Madagascar, which is also mentioned in the GIATOC report, in which it was declared Wagner's daughter-company. Research by the English-language Parisian magazine "The Africa Report" showed that Wagner's network imported heavy machinery for mines through the Cameroonian sea port of Douala. Meanwhile, it is claimed that three convoys of cargo vehicles are organized from Bangui to Douala every Sunday for the transport of raw materials. Convoys, it is claimed, are secured by members of the Wagner group equipped with heavy weapons.
Russians, "rulers" in all lucrative areas
In the Central African Republic, it seems that the Wagner Group continues to diversify its business. The group tried to "drive" the French sugar mill SUCAF out of the market, according to Joseph Bendunga, head of the opposition party MDREC. In an interview with DW, he gives another example: "They are trying to accuse the French brewery Castel of supporting and financing terrorists. The Russians are rulers in all areas that bring in money, including customs and taxes."
First Industrial Company, which produces beer and spirits in Bangui, could profit from this. According to GIATOC, the company is registered to a Russian businessman whose name is often mentioned in reports on the Wagner group's business.
Russia does not deny the connection with the company "First Industrial Company". A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Bangui told DW: "It's going well, because drinks produced according to Russian recipes are very popular in the Central African Republic." He also adds that the intention is to popularize Russian culture among the population of the Central African Republic, and at the same time to make money. "A private investor can do whatever he wants," says the embassy spokesman, "it's the law of the free market."
New plans in Africa?
The economic activities of the Wagner network in Africa seem to be intensifying - despite the fact that the group's mercenaries are openly fighting on the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine. "In some cases, a number of mercenaries have been withdrawn to fight in Ukraine, while others remain in place," GIATOC analyst Rademeyer told DW. "There is no indication that the war in Ukraine could lead to the withdrawal of Wagner's mercenaries from Africa".
Quite the opposite: a few days ago, on the eve of the first anniversary of the start of the war on February 24, the "Wall Street Journal" newspaper, citing sources in the American secret services, announced that Fraupa Wagner was planning a coup in Chad, together with local rebels.
Rademeyer fears "that Wagner will have new metastases in Africa" and that "it will continue to grow, as long as there is no intervention against this influence. Europe and its partners would have to cooperate much better with Africa in this context."
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