Wagner in Africa: Prigozhin’s mutiny against Kremlin sends jitters across the continent

The Wagner Group’s mutiny against the Kremlin last week (23-24 June) could have major repercussions for the group’s operations in Africa, not least in the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali and other countries whose leaders have reportedly become very worried that the developments in Russia would bring an end to Wagner’s operations in their respective countries.
The mercenary group, which launched an armed mutiny over the weekend, has built a spider’s network of military, business and political relationships over the past decade that encompass several countries, including Libya, CAR, Mali, Sudan or Syria. The Wagner mercenaries have also gained notoriety in recent years for their involvement in various conflicts around the world, fighting side-by-side with Russian troops in the battlefields of Syria, as a stand-alone outfit in Libya, and for their involvement in the current conflicts in Sudan, Mali and the CAR. As news spread across the CAR on Saturday (24 June) about the stand-off between the Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, cabinet members in the restive African nation became very uncomfortable and started to phone each other with concern, according to media reports.
“The last thing the government wants to see at the moment is the exit of Russia from the country,” a senior CAR government official told the media. The CAR government has a very close relationship with the Wagner Group that reportedly provided the country, over the past five years, weapons and hundreds of military advisers and Wagner mercenaries as an extension of the government’s security forces. The Wagner fighters are said to have been intimidating locals and targeting citizens opposed to the private military company’s presence, while also exploiting the country’s mineral resources. “The Russians play a very important role in the security architecture of our country and if they are forced to pull out completely, things could become messy,” said the senior government official, noting that the longer the mutiny lasted, the more worried CAR officials were.