Challenge, death and refoundation. In June 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, challenged the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, like no one had done before. His paramilitary troops, present in several African countries and Ukraine, started an uprising over the mismanagement of the Russian army in the war and marched towards Moscow. The next day, Putin spoke of “betrayal.” It was a death sentence for his former collaborator. Two months later, the plane carrying Prigozhin and his number two, Dmitry Utkin, was shot down under mysterious circumstances and there were no survivors. Putin exacted his revenge in December: the Wagner group, which since 2017 has created an empire of political, economic and military influence in Africa, was absorbed by the Russian Ministry of Defense and renamed Africa Corps.
The decision, which involves a restructuring of mercenary troops from a private activity with shadowy ties to Moscow to an official state project, marks a new phase in Putin’s tactic of expanding his influence from the Central African Republic, Sudan or Libya, especially the Sahel, with the triumvirate of coup allies of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where France has lost its footing.
Precisely in Niger, the US announced on Friday that it agrees to withdraw its last thousand soldiers after the Nigerien military junta declared their presence “illegal”, despite the fact that Washington has collaborated in the anti-jihadist fight there since 2012. The US departure coincided in time with the arrival in Niamey of Russian instructors and soldiers from Africa Corps, as well as military equipment. In neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, French troops were expelled months ago and replaced by the “musicians,” as the Wagner mercenaries were known.
For analyst Will Brown, of the European Council on International Relations think tank, “the loss of Air Base 201 in Niger leaves a large gap in the operational capacity of the United States. It is its main air base in West Africa and has given to the Pentagon eyes in the sky in large areas of the Sahel and the Sahara, where countless extremists and armed groups sow chaos.”
Far from meaning the end of Wagner, Prigozhin’s death has redoubled Moscow’s ambition to control the multimillion-dollar business of the mercenary group that closed juicy mining deals, which it shared with the Russian state. For Putin, this African source of income is vital. According to the “Blood Gold” report, prepared by several human rights organizations such as 21Democracy, the Kremlin obtained $2.5 billion from the trade in gold extracted from Africa since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Now Russia wants the whole pie. The conflict specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, Jack Watling, explained to the BBC that the refoundation of the Russian paramilitary group was closed months ago.
“There was a meeting in the Kremlin shortly after the Prigozhin uprising at which it was decided that Wagner operations in Africa would come under the direct control of Russian military intelligence.” According to Watling, the mission is headed by General Andrey Averyanov, leader of unit 29155, specialized in the destabilization of foreign governments.
In addition to the intention to increase the Africa Corps soldiers to 20,000, the Kremlin aims to continue its expansion and, thanks to its offer of security and protection to the coup military junta, take control of the region’s mines. According to Watling, “the Russians are trying to displace Western control of access to strategically important minerals and resources.”
In recent months, Moscow has been working with the allied governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to rewrite some mining laws that would invalidate agreements with foreign companies, considered unfair and illegal, and return their control to local military junta. On the horizon: the uranium mines of Niger, of vital importance for France.
Although Wagner’s name has disappeared, its rebaptism retains a nod: if the name of the former paramilitary militia referred to the admiration of its founders for Wagner, the German composer who influenced the aesthetics of the Third Reich, the refoundation of The band of mercenaries takes its name from the Afrika Korps, a battalion founded by Hitler that fought in North Africa during World War II.
