First Independent Mena Newspaper
The UK government has announced dozens of new sanctions against Russia, targeting three private mercenary groups in Africa, linked to the Kremlin, and eleven people involved in the Ukraine war and associated with a nerve agent attack on British soil. “Today’s action disrupts the supply of vital equipment for Putin’s war machine and bears down […]
Moscow has effectively dismantled and largely taken over the Wagner Group and its African operations, once led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, in the year since the mercenaries launched a mutiny against President Vladimir Putin’s government, according to experts. For years, the Kremlin worked through the paramilitary group to covertly prop up authoritarian leaders, exploit natural resources, […]
After Wagner Group’s collapse in mid 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently launched a new Africa Corps, with 100 military staff officially deployed to Burkina Faso, with the aim to continue serving Russia’s interests on the continent — unofficially. While the war in Ukraine continues unabated, the depth of the ties between Burkina Faso […]
EU’s top diplomat has rejected a claim that migration in Africa is being caused by the war against Ukraine, saying that “the root causes of migration in Africa are lack of development, economic growth and bad governance. “We are living in a circle of instability from Gibraltar to the Caucasus and this happened before the […]
The Russian warlord at the head of the Wagner mercenary group that had been operating in several African countries has been reportedly killed in a business jet crash northwest of Moscow on Wednesday (23 August). Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport reported to have initiated an investigation of the crash of a plane en route […]
Elected Niger President Mohamed Bazoum has called on “the US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order,” as the newly installed junta announced they were scrapping military pacts with France and warned to respond ‘immediately’ to any ‘aggression’ by the West Africa bloc. In a column entitled ‘My Country […]
Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and other African countries, which sought closer ties with Russia that provided them, through Wagner Group, with military support, now — following Prigozhin’s armed revolt against the Kremlin — need to carefully assess the implications of these developments and take proactive measures to mitigate any potential risks, says a latest […]
Kenya has slammed Russia and Gulf countries for their involvement in Sudan’s politics that does not help to find a solution to the conflict, while an exclusive article published by the Washington Post accuses the Russia’s Wagner Group of aggressively working to create a “confederation” of anti-Western states in Africa by creating instability across the […]
Burkina Faso has denied claims that it awarded a mining permit to Nordgold just because it is a Russian company, its mines minister told the media on Sunday (5 February), rebuffing Western concerns that the ruling junta is seeking closer ties with Moscow. Burkina Faso allows all companies to operate in the west African country […]
UN experts on Tuesday (31 January) called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian private military contractor Wagner Group and government forces in Mali. This comes just days after the US formally designated (26 January) Russia’s Kremlin-affiliated Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization responsible for widespread […]