The Russian mercenary group Wagner’s rise in Africa has left the Biden administration worried sick. The Wagner and US faceoff in recent times has only intensified. For the longest time the US maintained its hegemony in the African continent but specially after the Ukraine war, it’s almost as if the worst nightmares have come true for America. The West’s exit from Mali, Central African Republic and more recently Burkina Faso, has sent the alarm bells ringing for America. However, in the near future, despite the best attempts to stop the Wagner, the US despair is only set to deepen even further.
US mounts pressure on allies to expel Russia’s Wagner
Burkina Faso has become the latest African country to dismantle the Western military intervention after Mali and Central African Republic. It has asked its ex-colonial ruler France to pull its troops out of the insurgency-hit country within a month. Further, this has come after there was widespread frustration and anger over France’s failure to contain the insurgency crisis in the country as well as the Sahel Region. Several demonstrations had taken place calling for France’s departure and the protesters attacked the French cultural centre in the capital, Ouagadougou in October. After all this, the US frustration over Wagner knew no bounds and it has recently designated Russia’s Kremlin-affiliated Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization and sanctioned a slew of associated targets.
Read More: Desperate to save its face, US sanctions Wagner as a warning
Further, it had put African nations on notice that working with the Kremlin-linked mercenary group carries “high risks”. It warned African countries against working with the Wagner Group and said that such an association will not help Africa end up in a “stronger position”. This was a desperate attempt by the US which had to resort to such veiled threats to arm-twist African countries to not join the Russian camp, after everything else had failed.
However, in response to this, the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin provoked US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen with a letter, and proposed to open a branch in the US. Now the message from Wagner to the US was clear and the US has thus doubled down on its efforts to save its remaining ground in Africa. As per a report, it has come to light that the US is now pressurising its allies to expel Russia’s Wagner mercenaries from Libya and Sudan.
After its geopolitical debacle in the Sahel region, the US has now stepped up pressure on Middle East allies to expel the Wagner group from chaos-stricken Libya and Sudan where it expanded in recent years. As per the report, the Biden administration has been working for months with regional powers like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to pressurise military leaders in Sudan and Libya to end their ties with Wagner.
According to an Egyptian senior government official, American officials are obsessed with Wagner and “It is at the top of every meeting.” In the backdrop of such events, the Russian ambassador to the Central African Republic, has recently said, that 1,890 “Russian instructors” were present in the country, willing to render their services as and when required. This shows that the Wagner group is prepared to train troops of different African countries to deal with insurgency, civil wars etc.
This could be a huge cause of worry for America as this might also mean that Russia’s influence will not just be consolidated in the CAR but will also reach the entire continent, as the Wagner has been gradually increasing its presence in African and Middle Eastern countries including Mali, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Syria.
The Wagner group’s role in Libya and Sudan was central to recent talks between CIA director William Burns and officials in Egypt and Libya in January, as per the report. Therefore, the US is becoming desperate and now have come to pressurise allies to expel Russia’s Wagner. However, looking at how things have unfolded in the last few years, it can be said, that such pressure tactics will ultimately backfire on the US.
Today Africa has realised that it has the opportunity to diversify its partnerships and secure its own national interests. Apart from it, it is also exploring opportunities for regional co-operation to reduce dependence on outside powers. Therefore, the US must understand that gone are the days when it could make Africa follow US diktats and achieve its geopolitical goals but today, tables have been turned and only Africa will decide what it must do, to secure its own national interests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dra3R2DQEUQ&t=28s