The number of people killed by Russian mercenaries this year has already exceeded the total for all of 2023, according to data compiled by ACLED.
Mercenaries from the Wagner PMC group are becoming more violent and killing more people in Africa. Bloomberg wrote this on Thursday, August 22, citing military analysts Acled.
“Since the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in August 2023, violence involving Russian mercenaries has increased by 81% in Mali, one of the West African countries that sent the group of fighters, while the number of dead increased by 65% ”, says the report,
Russian violence, as the publication notes, has also increased in Niger and Burkina Faso. There, as in Mali, governments that came to power after coups recruited “Wagnerites” to “police the law.”
Experts explain that the juntas that invite the Wagner PMCs to African countries benefit from their presence because the Russians are relatively cheap, although they do not fulfill the mission originally assigned to them – to protect the population from radical Islamists.
“The Sahel regimes see the presence of the Wagner group as a win-win for everyone. In Mali, they are paid $10 million per month for protection. This is more than what the junta spends on funding major ministries such as justice, family affairs or the environment. So the Russians are helping the junta stay in power,” said Heni Nsaibia, Acled’s West Africa research director.
Let’s recall that at the end of July in Mali, Tuareg rebels killed and wounded dozens of Wagner PMC fighters.
After that, the GUR said that the local rebels “received the necessary information and not only information that made it possible to conduct a successful military operation against Russian war criminals.”
Soon after, Mali and then Niger broke diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.