{"id":37575,"date":"2024-08-11T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=37575"},"modified":"2024-09-26T21:45:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T21:45:25","slug":"wagner-group-setback-in-mali-challenges-moscows-strategy-in-africa-and-the-regions-faith-in-russian-mercenaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wagner-group-setback-in-mali-challenges-moscows-strategy-in-africa-and-the-regions-faith-in-russian-mercenaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Wagner Group setback in Mali challenges Moscow\u2019s strategy in Africa and the region\u2019s faith in Russian mercenaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christopher Michael Faulkner<\/a>, US Naval War College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Russia\u2019s army is bogged down in Ukraine<\/a>, its mercenaries are faring no better in Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late July 2024, mercenaries from the the Wagner Group, a Moscow-aligned private military company<\/a>, accompanied the Malian army in what the Malian regime called a \u201cstabilization operation<\/a>\u201d in the West African country\u2019s northeastern town of Tinzaouaten, near the Algerian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That mission quickly went sideways<\/a> when fighting broke out between that coalition and rebels from the Permanent Strategic Framework, an ethnically Tuareg separatist group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In retreat, Wagner and Malian forces were ambushed by militants from the al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin<\/a>, or JNIM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upward of 80 Wagner personnel and over 40 Malian soldiers were reportedly killed in the fighting<\/a>. Among the casualties was Nikita Fedyanin<\/a>, who ran Wagner\u2019s popular Telegram channel The Grey Zone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Tuareg rebels<\/a> and JNIM<\/a> were quick to celebrate their success, Mali and Wagner sought to downplay<\/a> their losses<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And understandably so. The defeat in Tinzaouaten puts both the Wagner Group and Russia in a bind. It signal to African leaders the limits of having Moscow-backed mercenaries as a counterterrorism partner<\/a> and regime protector, especially in a complex security environment such as Mali\u2019s. But it also challenges Moscow\u2019s strategy on the continent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the death of Wagner\u2019s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin<\/a>, in August 2023, Moscow has tried to take over the group\u2019s operations by establishing the Africa Corps<\/a>, a Ministry of Defense-controlled project designed to resemble Wagner. That project aims to bring Wagner fighters directly under the command and control<\/a> of the Russian state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this has proven more challenging than Moscow anticipated and has complicated Russia\u2019s plans to expand its partnerships across Africa via the offer of support from private military companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wagner\u2019s questionable reliability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Tinzaouaten incident was a major blow to Wagner, representing its largest known loss of life in Africa. For context, over its nearly decadelong counterterrorism mission<\/a> based in Mali, the French lost 59 soldiers<\/a>. France\u2019s approach to counterterrorism in Mali helped sow the seeds of military discontent that led to multiple coups between 2020 and 2021<\/a>. It also laid the groundwork for Mali\u2019s coup leaders to turn to Wagner rather than Paris for its security needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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