The brazen but brief rebellion that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin launched in Russia at the weekend, and the deal he cut with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end it, clearly have large implications for Wagner in Africa. What these are, however, is harder to say.
At first the deal was welcomed by most – though not all – because it seemed to entail the dissolution of Wagner and therefore the end of its nefarious activities in many African countries, like the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali. The autocratic leaders of those two in particular were no doubt among the most anxious observers, given their heavy reliance on Wagner for survival. However even some objective observers expressed concern that a Wagner withdrawal from Africa could create a dangerous security vacuum.
But then on Monday Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT that Wagner would continue operations in Mali and the CAR. Wagner operatives ‘are working there as instructors. This work … will continue,’ Lavrov said. He added that Europe and particularly France had ‘abandoned’ the two African countries, which had in turn asked Russia and Wagner to provide military instructors and ‘to ensure the security of their leaders.’
