By Henry Srebrnik, [Fredericton, NB] Daily Gleaner

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the recent actions of the Wagner Group and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose brazen mutiny June 23-24 shook Russia, a “betrayal.” Prigozhin’s troops had marched to within 200 kilometres of Moscow before turning back.

The power struggle could have huge implications for Africa, since Wagner troops are active in about a dozen African countries as part of a Russian effort to project power on the continent and extract valuable resources.

In fact the economic activities of the Wagner network in Africa appear to be growing in intensity, despite the fact that its mercenaries have until now been fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The Wagner Group, ostensibly named after German composer Richard Wagner, was founded in 2014 by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Until now loyal to Putin, he and the group have since become an indispensable private sector player for Russian interests.

Wagner has developed over time as an organization that has gone from being a purely private military contracting entity into a multiplicity of business alliances and relations, running a network of companies which operate on the African continent in a legal grey zone between illicit activities and more legal ones.

For cash-strapped African governments, it can be quite attractive to pay for Wagner’s services with mining rights or market access.

Sudan has long been a particular focus for Wagner mercenaries. During the rule of the dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was in power from 1993 to 2019, licences went to the Russian firm “M-Invest,” under the control of oligarchs, including Prigozhin. This led to Wagner members being given the job of protecting the M-Invest gold mines in Sudan.

In 2017, al-Bashir and Putin met in the Black Sear resort of Sochi to bring in a new phase of cooperation. There, al-Bashir promised Putin that Sudan could serve Russia as the “key to Africa,” and received military help in return -- though it ultimately failed to prevent his ouster in April 2019.

Russia is mostly concerned with securing access to Sudan’s valuable resources, which include manganese and silicon, alongside gold and uranium deposits. Even while the country is struggling to return to some semblance of constitutional order, Wagner mercenaries are still in the country and have even been able to boost their influence on the Sudanese military.

The military government, currently engaged in a fierce civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, wants to maintain control over Sudan at all costs and is apparently receiving help from the Russian Wagner troops.

European media outlets have reported on how the Wagner group has been raking in massive profits from precious tropical timber from the Central African Republic (CAR). They have made the CAR and Cameroon the backbone of a network of companies whose profits are worth millions of dollars.

Some 1,000 so-called Russian “instructors” are supporting CAR government troops in an ongoing civil war, according to the Russian ambassador. Wagner fighters have defended the regime of Faustin-Archange Touadéra against successive rebel attacks on the capital, Bangui, and have been accused of human rights abuses.

The African country signed a bilateral agreement with Russia in August 2018 which allowed them to be deployed on its soil and the government in Bangui granted a Wagner subsidiary unrestricted logging rights across 187,000 hectares.

The Wagner network imports heavy mining equipment through the Cameroonian seaport of Douala. Up to three truck convoys are organized weekly from Bangui to Douala to transport the raw materials, under the protection of Wagner members with heavy weapons.

The case of the Ndassima gold mine, also in the CAR, is similar. Reports say that a concession was withdrawn from a Canadian mining company in favor of one from Madagascar that appears to be a Wagner subsidiary.

Since Wagner arrived in the CAR, it has tried to establish control over the flow of gold and diamonds as part of a broader push to secure resources. Such concessions have gained in importance as the Russian rouble has come under pressure. Precious metals, especially gold, could help Moscow survive the economic impact of sanctions.

In Mali, relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since a 2020 military coup in the country. Colonel Assimi Goita’s junta has brought in the paramilitary Wagner Group to meet its security needs, though the mercenaries have been accused of committing serious human rights violations.

Around 300 civilians were killed in central Mali in late March, according to Human Rights Watch. Witnesses said Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters attacked Islamist militants before also executing civilians.

Prigozhin helped engineer the withdrawal of peacekeepers to “further Wagner’s interests,” according to U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s historical ties with Africa waned. But thirty years on, it’s clear that, despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine, several countries have been getting closer to Russia once more.

Insurgents liked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have spread across West Africa’s Sahel region and beyond in the past decade despite international interventions, killing thousands and displacing millions.

United Nations peacekeeping forces, who operate under strict guidelines, are unable to ensure general security, stabilize volatile situations or even protect civilians, so governments have asked them to leave. Wagner mercenaries are preferred by rulers to help them deal with the jihadist threats.