Russia, in a new push to expand its influence in Africa, is recruiting for an armed force to replace the Wagner group’s mercenaries across the continent.
The Africa Corps would bolster Russia’s military presence with what it says would be a network of planned Defense Ministry-controlled bases, in a bid to revive Moscow’s Cold War-era clout on the continent at a time of steeply declining Western influence.
It would also allow the Kremlin to consolidate control of Wagner’s business network in Africa, including potentially lucrative mining interests, following the death last year of the group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“It’s a recognition on the part of the Kremlin that there’s an opportunity to exploit,” said J. Peter Pham, former US special envoy to the Sahel. “If it’s formalized, especially with the French withdrawal, it’s certainly going to be a much more significant and potentially lasting shift in geopolitical and diplomatic alignments.” French troops fighting insurgents in the Sahel left both Mali and Burkina Faso after the military ousted the civilian government and moved closer to Russia.
The Africa Corps, which controversially shares the name of Adolf Hitler’s expeditionary force, aims to enlist new recruits and former Wagner fighters by mid-year to deploy to at least five Russia-friendly countries — Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger — according to the group. Wagner was technically disbanded following Prigozhin’s death but remains active.
But it remains to be seen where it will be able to find the 20,000 soldiers that a person close to the Russian Defense Ministry said the group seeks. At its peak, Wagner’s African operations numbered at most several thousand personnel and Russia is already trying to recruit at least another 250,000 troops to fight in Ukraine this year.
At the same time, transitioning to an official military role will collapse the arm’s length relationship to Wagner’s operations that gave the Kremlin plausible deniability against United Nations allegations of war crimes in Africa made against the mercenary group.
“There is a downside for the Russians as well, which is that you no longer have deniability,” said Pham, the former senior US diplomat. “If you rebrand those forces as part of the army, you now own that problem.”
Small Start
Moscow’s approach has started small. Last Wednesday, about 100 Russian troops arrived in Burkina Faso to provide security for Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the soldier who seized power in a 2022 military coup, the group said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
But it has ambitious plans, seeking to build a regional headquarters in the Central African Republic, where over the past six years Wagner has waged a brutal campaign on behalf of the president, and embedded itself in the national security apparatus in exchange for diamonds and gold.
“The military base will be built. We have a lot of men and many Russians here. It’s necessary to provide them with a base,” Patrick Bida Kouyagbele, a senior adviser to President Faustin-Archange Touadera, told Bloomberg News by phone. He said the base’s exact location was “top secret” and the government was still in the process of analyzing several sites.
The number of Russian military personnel in CAR has almost doubled to nearly 2,000 since September — a month after Prigozhin’s death — a sign of how security cooperation with Russia “has intensified,” Kouyagbele said.
Sahel Clique
Moscow has capitalized on the destabilization in West Africa wrought by military coups and Islamist insurgencies in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, exacerbated by popular resentment of former colonial power France and perceived Western meddling.
The three Sahelian countries and Russia signed a mutual defense pact in September. Last week, the military leader of Niger’s neighbor Chad — now considered the last bastion of Western influence in the Sahel — met with Putin in Moscow to discuss security cooperation.
The US State Department’s top Africa official, Molly Phee, expressed concern that Russia will succeed in striking a deal on a military presence in Niger, where the US has a major drone base. The country’s new army junta last year also expelled French troops and effectively forced the closure of France’s embassy.
“If they chose to have a partnership with countries like Russia, that would be very complicated,” Phee said Jan. 18. “We hope they make the right decision.”
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who’s in charge of taking over Wagner activities in Africa and the Middle East, visited Niger in early December. The country’s prime minister traveled to Moscow for talks and the signing of a new defense agreement with the Kremlin this month.
In November, Mali’s army recaptured the strategic northern town of Kidal, which had been held by separatist rebels for over a decade, with the help of Russian fighters. As in other countries, Mali has seen Wagner contractors slowly — though not fully — replaced by regular army forces, two Western officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Along with its role in propping up regimes, the Africa Corps is expected to maintain Wagner’s focus on extracting raw resources with the goal of bringing in hard currency to finance the war in Ukraine, the officials said.
“It may be a rebranding exercise so far but it’s already a great result for the Russians,” said Lou Osborn, an analyst at All Eyes on Wagner, a consortium that tracks the activities of the group and its successor. “Suddenly they’re going from Wagner, which the West put a lot of effort into deterring — new tentacles of the hydra have emerged and it’s now called Africa Corps.”
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A mixture of condemnation and praises has trailed a judgement of a Federal High Court that stopped the release of state allocations to the Rivers State Government.
Investors King had reported that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the stoppage of the release of monthly federal allocations to Rivers State.
Justice Abdulmalik predicated her action on the grounds that the state government was in violation of the Constitution as regarding the state expenditures.
According to the judge, the current budget being operated by the state was not passed by a lawful arm of the Rivers State House of Assembly, therefore, Fubara is not entitled to allocations from the government at the centre.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders in the country have knocked the judiciary over the decision, calling on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun to rein in on judges’ actions over the political crisis ravaging Rivers.
For former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the judiciary should be cautioned against setting the South-South State on fire.
In a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, the former Vice President, said it was appalling that some elements loyal to the Federal Government were pulling the strings from behind.
Atiku wondered why Justice Joyce Abdulmalik issued the order when it was public knowledge that Rivers State had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgement on the legality of Rivers State’s 2024 budget.
He, however, called on Justice Kekere-Ekun to ensure that those found wanting are disciplined in order to restore the fading glory of the nation’s judiciary.
In the same vein, Chief Emeka Kalu, National Coordinator of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Coalition observed that the ongoing crisis plaguing Rivers State must be handled with caution to save it from unnecessarily being flamed in uncontrollable state of lawlessness.
Kalu in the statement said the judiciary is expected to maintain its integrity and protect her independence by working to avoid being politically purchased to harm democratic processes and the ethics of law.
According to him, the recent judgement by the Abuja Federal High Court division directing the RMAFC to stop releasing statutory monthly allocation to the State government was done out of bias and politically motivated plans to disrupt Fubara ‘s administration.
The group affirmed that it remains the height of injustice for a political party under the guise of personal interest to continue raising the dust of anarchy against the will of the people and the judiciary is expected to redeem and revitalize the failed system instead of allowing herself to be used to ruin the polity.
On the contrary, the National Democratic and Change Coalition has hailed the court for the judgment banning further release of allocations to Rivers and called on Governor Fubara to refund all monies spent without appropriation to the state coffers.
The coalition, while expressing satisfaction with the ruling, said the people of Rivers State have been vindicated and the long-awaited justice has been served on the governor.
Reacting via a press release by John Uloko, president of the coalition hailed Justice Joyce Abdulmalik for the judgment, saying that since January 2024, Rivers State had received and spent allocations based on an “illegitimate” budget, thereby describing it as a “constitutional aberration”.
The group, made up of lawyers, agreed with the court that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the constitutional provision.
It added that the ruling is a victory for democracy and will teach rogue governors the bitter lesson that the Constitution of the Federal Republic must be respected and the sanctity of the nation’s democratic institutions upheld irrespective of their political desperation.
Nonetheless, the embattled Governor Fubara, on Wednesday said the restriction placed on the state allocations is “the least” of his problems.
Governor Fubara stated this during a special thanksgiving service organised by the state government to celebrate his administration’s resilience amid escalating political crises, which began with the arson attack on the State House of Assembly complex exactly one year ago.
Governor Fubara assured that despite the court order, his administration would continue payments to contractors and ensure workers’ salaries are disbursed from today (Thursday).
He also confirmed that allocations for the 23 Council Chairmen would be credited, as the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee procedures have been completed.
The governor encouraged his supporters to remain resilient, assuring them that all challenges are surmountable.
Reflecting on his administration’s success, Governor Fubara noted that despite predictions that his government would not last even a week, he has successfully led for over a year.
He said his administration has also conducted local government elections against all odds and maintained a full cabinet despite attempts to undermine his leadership through resignations.
Highlighting his administration’s progress, he mentioned ongoing project executions across the state, countering critics who claimed he would be unable to deliver.
He also cited recent reports that position Rivers State as one of the leaders in financial accountability and transparency.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the Federal Government of Nigeria from giving monthly constitutional allocation to Rivers State Government.
Specifically, the court presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
Justice Abdulmalik stated while delivering the order on Wednesday that further release of monthly financial allocations to the Rivers State government is unconstitutional and an aberration.
The court maintained that the previous collection and disbursement of monthly allocations since January this year by Governor Siminalayi Fubara is a constitutional somersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue.
The judge anchored his decision on the manner in which Governor Fubara presented the 2024 budget, stressing that the presentation of the fiscal document before a 4-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the Constitutional provision.
He said that Fubara action in implementing unlawful budget smacked gross violations of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.
Abdulmalik then stopped the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
Nigerian Senate has shifted the scheduled screening for ministerial nominees, initially set for today.
The postponement of the exercise to Wednesday is to enable the nominees provide all needed documents as well as allow for sufficient time to complete their documentation and pre-screening processes.
The announcement was contained in a statement signed on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado.
According to Lado, the screening will hold on Wednesday, at 12:00 pm.
Lado, while explaining the reason for the postponement said the scheduled screening of ministerial nominees was shifted by the Senate, adding that it is to allow all nominees to conclude all aspects of documentation and pre-screening exercises.
He said the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters thanked the public for their understanding and cooperation.
Recall that the Special Adviser to the President had on Monday disclosed in a statement that the screening will hold today.
President Tinubu had written the Senate, seeking the screening and subsequent confirmation of appointments of seven ministerial nominees announced in Abuja last Wednesday.
Tinubu’s request was contained in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and read last Thursday during plenary.
According to the letter, the ministerial nominees were Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, Minister of Labour and Employment; and Bianca Odinaka Odumegu-Ojukwu, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs.
Others were Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Minister of Industry, Trade and Development; Idi Muktar Maiha, Minister of Livestock Development; Rt Hon Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, Minister of State, Housing; and Dr Suwaiba Said Ahmad, Minister of State, Education.
President Tinubu in the letter had sought expeditious consideration of his request by the Senate.