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According to the report, Russia is expanding its military footprint in Africa, delivering sophisticated weaponry to sub-Saharan conflict zones where a Kremlin-controlled armed force is on the rise. On May 31, dozens of heavy vehicles carrying armored vehicles and other military equipment returned to Mali's capital, Bamako. This equipment had passed through the port of Conakry, Guinea's capital, before returning to Mali, a major Russian ally in the Sahel region. Skirting sanctions imposed by Western nations, Moscow is using cargo ships to send tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and other high-value equipment to West Africa, The Associated Press has found. Mali has been facing a political and security crisis for over 10 years after a military regime took power through two coups d'état in 2020 and 2021.
The report also stated that there is a void in the Sahel left by the departure of Western states, especially by the French, the United States, and other European countries. So this is an opportunity for Russia that is going to cost them almost nothing,” said Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South. Relying on satellite imagery and radio signals, AP tracked a convoy of Russian-flagged cargo ships as they made a nearly one-month journey from the Baltic Sea. The ships carried howitzers, radio jamming equipment, and other military hardware, according to military officials in Europe who closely monitored them. The deliveries could strengthen Russia’s fledgling Africa Corps as Moscow competes with the United States, Europe, and China for greater influence across the continent.
The report added that the two-year-old Africa Corps, which has links to a covert branch of Russia’s army, is ascendant at a time when U.S. and European troops have been withdrawing from the region, forced out by sub-Saharan nations turning to Russia for security. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been battling fighters linked with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group for more than a decade. Armed groups in Mali have inflicted heavy losses on Malian troops and Russian mercenaries. The al-Qaida-linked group JNIM killed dozens of soldiers in an attack this month on a military base. Insurgents also killed dozens of Russia-backed Wagner mercenaries in northern Mali last July. At first, mercenary groups with an arms-length relationship to the Kremlin entered the fray in Africa. But increasingly, Russia is deploying its military might and intelligence services more directly. For years, French forces supported counterinsurgency operations in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. But France pulled out its troops after coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023.
Watch the report on the YouTube link.
The report also stated that there is a void in the Sahel left by the departure of Western states, especially by the French, the United States, and other European countries. So this is an opportunity for Russia that is going to cost them almost nothing,” said Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South. Relying on satellite imagery and radio signals, AP tracked a convoy of Russian-flagged cargo ships as they made a nearly one-month journey from the Baltic Sea. The ships carried howitzers, radio jamming equipment, and other military hardware, according to military officials in Europe who closely monitored them. The deliveries could strengthen Russia’s fledgling Africa Corps as Moscow competes with the United States, Europe, and China for greater influence across the continent.
The report added that the two-year-old Africa Corps, which has links to a covert branch of Russia’s army, is ascendant at a time when U.S. and European troops have been withdrawing from the region, forced out by sub-Saharan nations turning to Russia for security. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been battling fighters linked with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group for more than a decade. Armed groups in Mali have inflicted heavy losses on Malian troops and Russian mercenaries. The al-Qaida-linked group JNIM killed dozens of soldiers in an attack this month on a military base. Insurgents also killed dozens of Russia-backed Wagner mercenaries in northern Mali last July. At first, mercenary groups with an arms-length relationship to the Kremlin entered the fray in Africa. But increasingly, Russia is deploying its military might and intelligence services more directly. For years, French forces supported counterinsurgency operations in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. But France pulled out its troops after coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023.
Watch the report on the YouTube link.