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UK imposes sanctions on Mali, Sudan, and CAR officials with ties to Wagner. In the UK, people are now subject to asset freezes and travel restrictions because of suspected human rights violations in the three African governments. The operations of the mercenary group around the world have been under a shadow of uncertainty since the Wagner Group’s failed uprising against the Russian military late last month. In its capacity as a private mercenary contractor with deep ties to the Kremlin, The Wagner Group, a paramilitary group established by Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia, is renowned for both brutality and effectiveness. It frequently appears in conflict-ridden regions to assist weak governments in combating armed insurgencies. In some of the fiercest clashes of the conflict to date, its fighters have been instrumental in seizing critical territory in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But the group is also well-represented in other parts of the globe, not least in Africa. Last week, hundreds of Wagner soldiers were seen leaving Bangui, the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, where the Kremlin-affiliated organization has its biggest and most extensive presence abroad. It occurs only a few weeks after Wagner’s manager, Prigozhin, launched an unsuccessful uprising in Russia by ordering his Ukrainian-based men to march against Moscow.
Prigozhin appeared to have been exiled to Belarus as part of the deal Alexander Lukashenko arranged to put a stop to the mutiny, but it is unclear exactly where he is now. The Kremlin is striving to reassert authority over the once-allied mercenary group, which has put Wagner’s chain of command into doubt. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, suggested that rather than giving up their weapons, mercenaries who weren’t involved in the mutiny might be given the chance to sign contracts with the Russian armed forces. According to a Friday report from Sky News, the Wagner employees who quit CAR declined to sign fresh versions of their contracts. Uncertainty surrounds the reasons behind the departure of Wagner employees from the CAR last week, including whether it was due to a standard military rotation, a reluctance to sign contracts, or a Moscow-ordered exodus intended to constrict Prigozhin’s hegemony.
The Officers’ Union for International Security (OUIS), a Wagner front organization operating in the CAR, however, declared over the weekend that a new wave of fighters had arrived in Bangui, the country’s capital. The scheduled rotation keeps going. A message from the OUIS on Telegram read: “Several hundred seasoned specialists from the Wagner organization are joining the team working in CAR. The Central African military forces will continue to get assistance from Russian experts to maintain security in advance of the constitutional referendum slated for July 30. Whatever the rationale behind the rotation, Chatham House’s Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program, said on CNBC on Wednesday that the number of soldiers leaving “seems higher than normal. The CEO of Macro-Advisory in Moscow, Chris Weafer, stated that Prigozhin seemed to have a “understanding” with the Kremlin. “He won’t threaten the regime again, and in exchange, he can continue managing Wagner and managing his business interests,” he said in an interview with CNBC. Wagner, or a variant of it, will “continue to be useful for the Kremlin ” in a number of African nations, according to Weafer, who also said that it is “unlikely they will again operate in eastern Ukraine. ” It is a very Russian solution to what is essentially an internal power dispute,” he continued.
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‘Pro-Russian state’ experiment in Africa
Wagner has developed a sizable military, political, and economic presence on the African continent over the past six years, acting as a key tool for Russia to advance its diplomatic and commercial objectives. However, Chatham House’s Vines stated that only in the CAR has Wagner been able to build an all-encompassing military, economic, and political presence. Mercenary activities have been proven in the CAR, Sudan, Libya, Mali, and Mozambique. Wagner arrived in the CAR in 2018 at the president’s request to defend the government and rich mines from armed rebels in the midst of an ongoing civil war. Since then, the group’s influence has grown to encompass gold and other natural resource extraction.
As France started to sever connections with its former colonies in Africa, Moscow saw an opportunity to strengthen its political influence. According to Vines, the Kremlin had initially sought to use its cordial relationship with the former Sudanese dictator to establish a pro-Russian, strategic state before Omar al-Bashir’s authority was destroyed in a military revolt in 2019.
Wagner’s involvement in CAR and Touadéra’s increasing reliance on the mercenary force afterward gained more significance.
After Al-Bashir was deposed, Vines said, “[The Russians] continued their experiments on how to establish a pro-Russian state in Africa, which is what I believe we have in the Central African Republic. [The Russians] initially saw it as a progression of their goal to use Sudan as a big stage with Al-Bashir and have a big corridor running through it. CNBC has gotten in touch with the Russian foreign ministry for comment.
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According to many observers, both parties desire that the CAR, which gained independence from France in 1960, diversify its international partnerships and move away from what has become a significant reliance on Russia. In March, Touadéra and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Gabon. Vines stated that in addition to Western efforts to normalize relations with the CAR and other African nations where Wagner has a presence, Putin and Prigozhin may start to run into
challenges from other African forces, such as Rwanda. Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, visited Guinea earlier this year and reached an agreement to provide security services in Benin. This is in contrast to the fact that Rwandan forces have been actively engaged in repelling insurgent factions in northern Mozambique.
Despite their “disciplined and effective” performance in more remote security alliances, Rwandan forces have also been implicated in atrocities committed by M23 rebel groups supported by Kigali in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Including one it referred to as the “right-hand man” of the organization’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the British government on Thursday announced sanctions against 13 people and many organizations in the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and Sudan in relation to the Wagner paramilitary group in Russia. The British government said that it had added Wagner officials to its list and accused them of being behind the murders and torture that occurred in Mali and the CAR, as well as the risks to Sudan’s peace and security. The Prigozhin rebellion in Russia, which failed, prompted concerns about the future of Wagner’s military and business operations in African nations, particularly CAR. Now, sanctions have been imposed. However, a video posted on Telegram on Wednesday by Prigozhin’s press office claimed to show the Wagner commander advising his soldiers to get ready for “a new journey to Africa” rather than continue fighting in the Ukraine conflict.
According to a statement from the British government, Konstantin Pikalyov, who has recently received sanctions and is now subject to asset freezes and visa restrictions in the UK, is Prigozhin’s key advisor in addition to serving as Wagner’s operational leader in the CAR.
The minister for Development and Africa of the United Kingdom, Andrew Mitchell, stated that Wagner “has a catastrophic effect on communities, worsens existing conflicts, and damages the reputation of countries that host them.”
Vitaly Perfilov, the leader of the Wagner Group in Mali, Alexander Maloletko, who was described as Prigozhin’s close ally, and Ivan Maslov were among those who received sanctions.
The UK included Mikhail Potepkin in Sudan, claiming that he was connected to the Wagner Group and a director of the mining firm Meroe Gold.
The government claimed to have sanctioned three companies in Sudan, including Meroe Gold, for serving as fronts for the Wagner Group and endangering peace and security. It claimed that Meroe Gold had imported military vehicles, helicopters, and weaponry.
It is unknown if those who have been sanctioned have any direct ties to the Kremlin as well. However, Moscow and Bamako have repeatedly claimed that Russian servicemen in Mali, which is engaged in a years-long battle against armed groups linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda, are not Wagner mercenaries but rather trainers assisting local troops with weapons purchased from Russia.
Human rights violations have been attributed to the mercenaries, most notably a March 2022 event in Moura, central Mali, where local soldiers and suspected Russian fighters are accused of killing hundreds of civilians. UK imposes sanctions on Mali, Sudan, and CAR officials with ties to Wagner is mainly for the reason stated above. For more on UK imposes sanctions on Mali, Sudan, and CAR officials with ties to Wagner visit