Russia's Africa Corps to stay in Mali after Wagner mercenaries leave
Wagner has been in Mali since the army, which seized power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, kicked out French and UN troops involved in fighting Islamic insurgents for a decade.
The Africa Corps was created with the Russian defence ministry's support after Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin led a failed military mutiny against the Russian army leadership and left Russia for Belarus with other mercenaries.
About 70-80% of the Africa Corps is made up of former Wagner mercenaries, according to several Telegram chats used by Russian mercenaries seen by Reuters.
Wagner posted on social media that it was returning home after its mission in Mali had been successfully completed. It added it had brought all of the country's regional centres back under the control of the Malian military junta, pushing out Islamist forces and killing their commanders.
Wagner did not say what its fighters would do back in Russia.
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