One of the main criticisms of Russian influence is that it uses secret military units to prop up dictators and strongmen with little or no accountability for human rights. These units are often mercenaries linked to the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization closely aligned with the Kremlin. The Wagner Group is run by Putin\u2019s former chef Yevgeny Progozhin and reportedly has soldiers on the ground in Central African Republic, Sudan and Libya, as well as in Ukraine and Syria.<\/p>\n
Again, the use of mercenaries is not exclusive to Russia. The US military frequently employs them to work with its client governments in war zones, including hiring the D.C.-based Bancroft Group in Somalia in 2011. Although French law prohibits private security companies, former French soldiers often work with American and British mercenary groups.<\/p>\n
Although Russia has signed military agreements with some two dozen countries, its actual presence on the ground is still relatively marginal in comparison to the French or the US. The US military has outposts in 34 African countries and had at least 33 active missions in 2017, according to journalist Nick Turse. This includes special forces fighting covert wars in Libya, Somalia, Tunisia, and Niger, with little to no accountability to the US Congress or the broader American public.<\/p>\n
In Niger, the US military has built a $110 million drone base and have special forces stationed around the country, who despite public denials, are frequently engaged in combat. In northern Niger along the Libyan border, the CIA has their own drone base which also carries out secret strikes in southern Libya. The Trump administration has carried out more than 100 airstrikes in Somalia since 2017, and Amnesty International found that at least 14 civilians were killed in just five of those strikes.<\/p>\n
French special forces are on the ground fighting in Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and more, and France has an extensive military network across Francophone Africa. French troops also have a presence in nearly every major airport in Francophone Africa.<\/p>\n
Although there has not been significant follow through on many of Russia\u2019s military agreements, that may mean that it is waiting for its opportunity to pounce and thwart Western interests. \u201cRussia might want to come first if there seems to be a competition for the deal. Russia can act really fast when needed,\u201d researcher Hedenskog said in an interview. \u201cThat, for instance, was the case in 2014 when Russia was able to strike a deal with Nigeria, ahead of the US and the UK, in helping Nigeria with military hardware to fight Boko Haram.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s rap sheet<\/h2>\n
Much of the focus on Russian interference is on its activities in the Central African Republic, where Wagner Group soldiers are training the CAR army, providing security to its president, and reportedly mining gold and diamonds. It is important to keep in mind, however, that Russia was able to muscle in on this former French colony\u2019s affairs following allegations of child rape and sex abuse against French soldiers and UN peacekeepers, as well as a failure by peacekeeping forces to protect civilians.<\/p>\n
A grave incident that does stand out in terms of what Russia is up to in Africa is the brutal killing of three Russian journalists who were investigating The Wagner Group\u2019s activities in the Central African Republic. An investigation by \u201cThe Dossier Centre,\u201d a news website financed by exiled businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky where the journalists worked, found that \u201cmilitary instructors employed by Yevgeny Prigozhin\u2019s \u00abCompany\u00bb are probably involved in the incident, while the said \u00abCompany\u00bb is purposefully seeking to thwart the independent investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The killing of journalists investigating Russia\u2019s business in CAR sends a chilling message for press freedom and accountability. Even these killings, however, should be put into a wider context of heightened threats against journalists in recent years. Three French journalists have been killed in war zones in Mali and CAR since 2013, and the families of those journalists have accused France of lying about the specific events and of not assigning sufficient resources to the investigations.<\/p>\n
Like the US, France or China, Russia has its interests in Africa and is prepared to use undemocratic means to achieve them. It is up to African states to exploit the increased economic competition that Russia\u2019s presence brings, while standing up for human rights and blocking potential abuses.<\/p>\n
source:quartafrica<\/p>\n
<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since 2015, Russia has signed military agreements with 21 African countries, and in the past decade, it has grown its trade with the continent to $20.4 billion in 2018 from $5.7 billion in 2009. Forced to find new diplomatic partners as well as markets for arms and goods after United States and European Union\u2019s sanctions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4791,11261,1648,4899,8607,12729,5754,8092,11264,8657,7167,2567,5522,8217,6263,3077,9204,5268,960,1451,13175,7960,1065,8289,11962,9214,7421,5145,6848,8982,6693,6623,12326,11606,12246,9506,5494,6778,11954,9505,1195,6738,11638,5575,4028,6351,5491,5918,6032,6543,10840,8601,10954,11493,10197,158,6030,9515,10454,1152,10342,5050,10256,5317,9477,5572,7795,1134,7693,12085,1390,434,6666,11041,5441,11973,9877,1253,5396,5466,11698,3805,12410,9320,71,9028,5762,3457,3078,5217,5713,5655,7584,10934,10163,5618,1361,7820,5818,6730,9209,3349,10329,9178,13182,6433,12605,5180,5465,11578,7231,7999,10701,9262,6348,9516,3076,9318,10292,5251,13067,2354,5724,3954,10415,36,594,7986,1574],"class_list":["post-11943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-abuse","tag-accused","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-african-countries","tag-african-leaders","tag-airport","tag-algeria","tag-allegations","tag-amnesty","tag-amnesty-international","tag-angola","tag-arms","tag-army","tag-beijing","tag-boko-haram","tag-border","tag-british","tag-burkina-faso","tag-businessman","tag-car","tag-case","tag-central-african-republic","tag-chad","tag-chef","tag-child","tag-chinese","tag-cia","tag-civilians","tag-combat","tag-congress","tag-crimea","tag-decade","tag-democracy","tag-diplomatic","tag-drone","tag-energy","tag-engaged","tag-engagement","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-families","tag-forced","tag-france","tag-freedom","tag-french","tag-gas","tag-gold","tag-goods","tag-growth","tag-human-rights","tag-independence","tag-international","tag-interview","tag-investigation","tag-john-bolton","tag-journalist","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-kremlin","tag-law","tag-libya","tag-madagascar","tag-mali","tag-mercenaries","tag-military","tag-mining","tag-mozambique","tag-national-security","tag-nations","tag-niger","tag-nigeria","tag-nuclear","tag-nuclear-energy","tag-oil","tag-one","tag-paramilitary","tag-paris","tag-peace","tag-peacekeeping","tag-politicians","tag-president","tag-press-freedom","tag-prigozhin","tag-putin","tag-rap","tag-rape","tag-russia","tag-russia-africa-summit","tag-russian","tag-sanctions","tag-security","tag-sex","tag-sex-abuse","tag-sochi","tag-soldiers","tag-somalia","tag-soviet-union","tag-strike","tag-sudan","tag-swedish","tag-syria","tag-trade","tag-troops","tag-trump-administration","tag-tunisia","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-un","tag-un-peacekeepers","tag-union","tag-united-nations","tag-united-nation-general-assembly","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-us-military","tag-vladmir-putin","tag-wagner","tag-wagner-group","tag-war","tag-wars","tag-washington","tag-weapons","tag-will","tag-work","tag-world","tag-who","tag-yevgeny-prigozhin","tag-zimbabwe"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}