FOREIGN POLICY
The United States has heard from multiple African countries that they regret giving access to the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, current and former U.S. military and defense officials said, as the Biden administration tries to use the interregnum in the group’s control to halt its advance.
U.S. defense and military officials have had conversations with representatives of several African nations in recent months indicating a growing frustration with Wagner over human rights abuses and the targeting of civilians. Wagner has significant forces in the Central African Republic, Mali, and Libya and has sent advisors and liaisons in other countries, including Sudan and Mozambique. The Russian mercenary outfit’s presence is a way for the Kremlin to extend its influence in Africa while ostensibly fighting terrorism.
“We’ve had countries come to us and say, ‘We don’t want to be dependent on Wagner. We are seeing problems in their presence,’” said a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity based on ground rules set by the Pentagon. “We are seeing a growing understanding that this is, at minimum, a double-edged sword but, at worst, a net negative for countries that have enabled Wagner presence.”
Though Wagner was able to exploit coups that have wreaked havoc across the Sahel, the Russian outfit has only been able to expand in fits and starts since it took a leading role in ensuring the survival of Mali’s military regime and ousting the U.N. peacekeeping mission there. The group, which was led by Yevgeny Prigozhin until his death in August, has recently tried to expand its operations in Burkina Faso, made attempts to exploit the overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum in Niger by a military junta, and was rebuffed in attempts to enter Chad and expand its influence in Sudan’s five-month conflict of warring generals.
