For These Reasons Russia Is Reinforcing Its Presence in Africa

2 years ago

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Formiche, the Italian magazine, highlighted Russia's efforts to spread in the countries of the African Sahel, which represents financial and strategic benefits. This upsets the United States and Europe, especially France, which has a colonial legacy there.

The Sahel countries mean the sub-Saharan region in Africa, which includes Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Niger.

Since 2013, France has been present in the Sahel region through the Serval force, which turned into Barkhane Operation, the following year, and includes about 5,100 soldiers, but it failed eliminate all the militants in the region, despite the presence of African Union forces and the arrival of military support from European countries.

After announcing in early June 2021 that it would end its military operations in Mali after the country's second military coup in less than a year, France retreated in July of the same year and said it would restart its operations there.

In light of France's growing troubles, Russia has appeared and became a major player in the region since 2016, and has achieved, through the mercenary Wagner Group, many breakthroughs in the region, repeating the scene of traditional French influence.

 

European Condemnation

The Italian magazine said that 15 European countries condemned in a joint statement on December 23, 2021, "the deployment of Russian mercenaries on Malian soil."

Those countries emphasized that this step "will only lead to a further deterioration of the security situation in West Africa as well as the human rights situation in Mali threatening the peace and reconciliation in the country."

The statement was signed by France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Romania.

The statement also expressed the regret of these countries for the way in which the Malian government decided to use the already scarce public funds "to pay the wages of foreign mercenaries instead of supporting the military forces and strengthening public services in the country for the benefit of the Malian people."

The 15 countries condemned "the participation of the Russian Federation government in providing material support for the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali," and called on Moscow to return to a "responsible and constructive" stance.

 

Russia's Return

Formiche pointed out that over the past few years, Russia has returned to activity again on the African continent.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia lost much of the influence it built on the continent during the Cold War, as it closed nine embassies, three consulates, and many missions and cooperation programs.

Beginning in the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century, Russia's regional policy began to change within the framework of a general trend towards returning to the international arena.

The magazine considered that this happened after Russian President Vladimir Putin managed to rebuild the internal strength that eroded in the 1990s and brought the union to the brink of financial collapse in 1998, along with other internal threats, especially the separatist tendencies of some regions.

It pointed out that this interest in Africa appeared at the Russian-African Summit, which was held in Sochi on October 23-24, 2019 and demonstrated Moscow's determination to be a major player on the continent.

The magazine added that the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, gave Russia a new impetus to develop its external presence for several reasons, the most important of which is the impact of Russia's far external presence on security problems in the near abroad.

In this way, after 2014, Russia strengthened its presence in various distant theaters, such as Syria, Libya, and sub-Saharan Africa, especially since the presence and influence in these places is important to pressure the United States and the European Union regarding the dynamics affecting Russia in its immediate neighborhood.

 

Russian Features

Russia enjoys in Africa, according to the magazine, a number of comparative advantages compared to other countries, although it does not have the economic power that the United States, China, Europe or the Gulf states have, but it has made up for this deficiency in other ways.

It does not suffer from the burden of the effects of the colonial period of the countries of Africa like European countries, so it is not considered a colonial power and is not seen as an imperialist power, like the United States.

Russia also has another competitive advantage represented in its capabilities for military-technical cooperation. Therefore, in its endeavors to achieve its goals in Africa, it relies on mechanisms of military-technical cooperation and "security export," and the conclusion of arms deals, training and advisory agreements.

In this regard, Formiche pointed out that the issue of Wagner mercenaries is particularly interesting, especially since private military companies are entities prohibited by law in Russia, but over the past few years they have been involved in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria and Libya, where they have built an image of strength and efficiency.

According to the magazine, "for Moscow, the game is relatively simple, and often a win-win situation, as the excesses of mercenaries cannot be blamed politically and diplomatically for Moscow, but it inevitably represents an instrument of influence."

The money these groups receive for the services they carry out also supports the power network associated with President Putin as well as avoiding costly interventions by conventional military forces that Russia may find difficult to support.

 

Old Existence

In a related context, Formiche indicated that the Russian presence in Mali is not new, but rather has a strong historical basis, as the Soviet Union during the Cold War was one of the country's main supporters in the completion of infrastructure projects, in addition to providing military technical assistance that also continued. after its disintegration.

In 2003, the two countries formed a joint commission for military-technical cooperation, while in 2009 a joint working group was established to combat extremism, and in 2012 the two sides concluded the first arms purchase agreement.

In 2016, the Malian government publicly asked Russia for technical and military support and help in combating extremism, especially in the northern regions.

Just as many of the weapons in Mali's arsenal are Soviet-sourced, and many Malian soldiers and leaders have studied or trained in Russia or the Soviet Union, the links have been around for a long time.

Formiche explained that Russia sees its presence in Mali as having many "logical" goals, especially combating extremism, which has long posed a problem considered a global threat to Moscow, and also to finding a market for the private security industry, whether legal, semi-legal or even illegal.

The presence in Mali also has a broader geopolitical value, especially with regard to the problems of neighboring Guinea, which is a key country for Russia, given the importance of Conakry.

To explain more, Wagner's presence aims to exploit the voids left by others, such as France, to gain advantages in other theaters with interventions known to be cost-effective and beneficial, as happened in Syria and Libya.

 

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