Russia's Africa Corps is expanding across the Sahel as juntas expel the West and turn east. Here is how the new scramble for the region is unfolding.
Sahel · Geopolitics
Key Facts
—The shift. Sahel juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have expelled French and US forces and turned to Russia.
—The force. Russia’s Africa Corps, successor to Wagner, is estimated by analysts at around 3,500 fighters in Mali.
—Not just Russia. China is deepening security ties too, from naval drills to training thousands of African personnel.
After more than a decade, external security intervention has left the Sahel region more fragmented, militarised and violent.
The shift brings Russian support to ‘a more fundamental level’, says Kremlin-backed paramilitary force Africa Corps.
Mali is a mess. Russia’s Africa Corps is pulling out of a major city it helped capture a couple years ago, what some experts say…
When Russian forces withdrew from Kidal in northern Mali, retreating from the very rebels they were sent to crush, they…
As mercenaries leave Mali, experts say remaining Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps is more than just 'Wagner rebranded'.
Kremlin-controlled paramilitaries also alleged it inflicted ‘irreplaceable losses’ on insurgents avoiding civilian casualties
