Latest news with #RussianMercenaries
Al Arabiya
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Al-Qaida-Linked Group Claims Attack Against Mali Army Position Near Senegal
Armed men attacked a Mali community just over the border from Senegal, Mali's military said Tuesday–an development that one expert called especially worrying as the deadly violence spreads. The al-Qaeda-linked JNIM extremist group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack on several Malian army positions in the country's west and central regions. One position was in Diboli, across the border from Senegal, which has been largely spared the extremist attacks. 'The border region to Senegal is a major gateway for trade and imports from Dakar ports to Mali that had been relatively stable for years,' said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. 'This will also worry border communities in Senegal.' Malian army spokesperson Col. Majo Souleymane Dembélé said on national television that the army had neutralized 80 attackers. There were no details on any casualties among soldiers. Mali, a landlocked nation in the semiarid Sahel region, for more than a decade has battled an insurgency by extremist groups, including some allied with al-Qaeda and ISIS. Following military coups, Mali's authorities have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for assistance, but the security situation has been deteriorating. Attacks by extremists have been on the rise in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso in recent weeks. JNIM has established a strong presence in both.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crush kills 29 pupils taking exams after blast in Central Africa
Twenty-nine children who were taking their school exams in the Central African Republic have been killed in a crush after a nearby explosion caused panic, a hospital director told the BBC. The blast, on the second day of the high-school final exams on Wednesday, occurred at an electricity transformer, said Abel Assaye from the Bangui community hospital. "The noise of the explosion, combined with smoke" caused alarm among the almost 6,000 students sitting the baccalaureate at an exam centre in the capital, Bangui, local radio station Ndeke Luka reported. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has declared a period of national mourning. He also ordered that the more than 280 who were wounded in the crush get free treatment in hospital. The CAR continues to face political instability and security challenges. Government forces, backed by Russian mercenaries, are battling armed groups threatening to overthrow Touadéra's administration Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Central African Republic exam crush: Panic following blast leaves 29 pupils dead in Bangui
Twenty-nine children who were taking their school exams in the Central African Republic have been killed in a crush after a nearby explosion caused panic, a hospital director told the blast, on the second day of the high-school finals on Wednesday, occurred at an electricity transformer, said Abel Assaye from the Bangui community hospital."The noise of the explosion, combined with smoke" caused alarm among the almost 6,000 students sitting the baccalaureate at an exam centre in the capital, Bangui, local radio station Ndeke Luka Faustin-Archange Touadéra has declared a period of national mourning. He also ordered that the more than 280 who were wounded in the crush get free treatment in CAR continues to face political instability and security forces, backed by Russian mercenaries, are battling armed groups threatening to overthrow Touadéra's administration Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Japan Times
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Ukraine turns to Africa in its struggle against Russia
On Africa's dry western tip, Mauritania has become an unlikely staging post for Ukraine's increasingly global struggle with its adversary Russia. Kyiv's new embassy in the country's capital Nouakchott — among eight it has opened in Africa since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine — has overseen food aid deliveries to refugees from neighboring Mali, embassy and aid officials say. Kyiv is also offering to train Mauritanian soldiers, Ukraine's top envoy to Africa said, amid tension between Mauritania and Mali, where Moscow backs government forces against Tuareg rebels. Moscow's soldiers and mercenaries guard presidents in several West and Central African countries, while Russian mining companies are entrenched in the Sahel region that includes Mali. Russia's military presence in the Sahel "undermined stability," the envoy, Maksym Subkh, said in an interview in Kyiv. "Ukraine is ready to continue training officers and representatives of the Mauritanian armed forces, to share the technologies and achievements that Ukraine has made" on the battlefield against Russia, Subkh said, adding that Ukraine had previously provided such training prior to Russia's invasion. The Mauritanian government did not respond to a request for comment about Ukraine's offer of more training. Russia's embassy in Mauritania did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier in June, the Kremlin said Russia would increase cooperation with African countries including in sensitive areas such as defense. Russia is the largest weapons supplier to Africa, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Interviews with four senior Ukrainian officials, two aid officials and Western diplomats and analysts for this story, along with access to new missions in Mauritania and Democratic Republic of Congo, reveal new details about Kyiv's Africa strategy including the deliveries of aid to Malian refugees, the proposal to train Mauritania's military, and the broader bid to counter Russia's much more entrenched presence. Early in the Ukraine war, many African countries declined to take Kyiv's side at the United Nations, even after Russia's bombing of Ukraine's ports drove up prices on the continent as exports of food and fertilizer were curtailed. Months later, Ukraine produced its first Africa strategy, a public document. The stated goals were to counter Russia's narrative and increase trade and investment on a continent that remembers Russian support in the Cold War and Moscow's stance against apartheid. Subkh was appointed to lead the effort, and Kyiv has since opened eight out of 10 new embassies announced in 2022, he said, bringing to 18 the number of missions Ukraine has in Africa. Host countries include Ivory Coast and Congo, which condemned Russia's invasion early on. Kyiv plans to open an embassy this year in Sudan, where Russia is accused by the U.S. of arming both sides in a brutal conflict. Russia denies a role there. However, Kyiv cannot match an opponent with deep commercial and security ties, including a long-standing presence of Moscow's intelligence agencies. In total, Russia has around 40 missions in Africa, and recently announced plans to open seven more. Fight for freedom? Ukraine wants to persuade African nations that its fight against Russia, its Soviet-era master, has parallels with their own efforts to overcome the legacy of European colonialism, Subkh said. Despite the offer of military training, Ukraine's wartime effort to win African allies has largely focused on food. Kyiv says it has sent nearly 300,000 metric tons as aid, distributed through the World Food Program (WFP) under an EU and U.S.-financed scheme called Grain from Ukraine that rivals a similar Russian food aid plan for Africa. The Ukrainian-branded aid has reached 8 million people in 12 countries, the European Policy Centre, a think-tank, said in April. Recipients have included Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan. Workers prepare bags of food aid for distribution by the WFP in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on Nov. 19, 2024. | WFP / via REUTERS In Mauritania it has mostly been destined for Mbera, West Africa's largest refugee camp, housing soaring numbers of Malians fleeing the Russia-backed forces across the border. And after the reopening of Black Sea ports bombarded and blockaded by Russia in the first two years of war, Ukraine exported nearly 10 million metric tons of grain to Africa in 2024, almost double the previous year, agriculture ministry data shows. By showing it is a major alternative to Russian food supplies, Ukraine hopes African nations that have maintained neutrality over the war will begin to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. "Maintaining its role as one of the guarantors of the world's food security, Ukraine can prevent Russia from using food supplies as political leverage," Roman Sereda, Ukraine's charge d'affaires in Nouakchott, where Russia has had an embassy for six decades, said in an interview. Ukraine is gaining visibility. In April, Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the first Ukrainian president to visit South Africa, a close Russia ally. He called for recognition of Ukraine's struggle and playing up potential deals on energy, fertilizer production and security. South African foreign ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said both Ukraine and Russia were allies. He said South Africa advocated for peace and was mediating on humanitarian issues such as the return of Ukrainian children Kyiv says were taken to Russia. However, South African analyst Tim Murithi said Ukraine's Africa strategy lacked coherence, pointing out that Kyiv had not nominated an ambassador in Ethiopia, a key posting that countries including Russia use to engage with the influential African Union, based in Addis Ababa. Ukraine's commercial exports are heavily tilted towards North Africa, with sub-Saharan nations including Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria buying a fraction of what they imported before the war, Ukrainian data shows. Mauritania, itself, bought far less food from Ukraine last year than in 2021. There have been setbacks in Ukraine's Africa drive, such as the downgrading of a planned October 2024 Ukraine-Africa summit to a video conference. Moscow hosted a well-attended Africa summit in 2023. "At the beginning, they wanted to have it physically in Kyiv," said Jean-Yves Ollivier, chairman of the Brazzaville Foundation, a conflict prevention organization that Ukraine consulted on the summit. The downgrade has not previously been reported. Subkh did not respond to a request for comment about the event. Mali refugees At times, Ukraine's higher profile has been controversial. Mali broke off relations with Kyiv over a Tuareg rebel attack in July that wiped out 47 Malian soldiers and 84 Russian fighters supporting the government, after a Ukrainian intelligence official appeared to suggest Ukrainian involvement. Ukraine has since strongly denied it was involved. Ukraine had no role in covert operations in the region, Subkh said. Now, a small quantity of Ukraine's aid has reached the Malian refugees fleeing the violence, WFP's spokesperson in Mauritania confirmed in response to questions for this story. The camp's population has almost tripled in two years to about 250,000 people. Three deliveries amounting to a total of about 1,400 metric tons had arrived in Mauritania by December, one of Ukraine's diplomats in Nouakchott, Viktor Bort, said. The split peas, vegetable oil and wheat were still being distributed to Mbera in May, the WFP spokesperson said. Bort, 29, who staffed the mission alone when it opened in May 2024, said his focus was to build relationships in the government and oversee the deliveries of aid to WFP for the Malian refugees, whom he said were fleeing Russians. Kyiv's senior Africa envoy, Subkh, said aid distribution was decided by WFP. Ukraine's contributions were strictly humanitarian and the country opposed politicizing aid, he said. Mauritania's communications ministry said the government had accepted Ukrainian food aid deliveries. It said it did not know that Ukrainian aid had reached the camp. Thinly staffed Ukraine's new missions are thinly staffed, and it has sought support from volunteers and donors. Two diplomats from other countries said the embassy official in Mauritania, Bort, initially traveled without security, relying on friendly envoys from other countries for help, but quickly gained notice for his energy and networking. Sereda, the charge d'affaires who joined Bort some months ago, said Ukraine's outreach and aid deliveries had improved Kyiv's reputation and Mauritanians' understanding of its position, with increased trade links hopefully to follow. The Mauritanian government declined to comment. Elsewhere, aid recipients have included war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ukraine's ambassador Vasyl Hamianin said the two countries were discussing long-term agriculture and food security agreements. "We accepted the Ukrainian embassy in a spirit of openness and cooperation. There is no need to link its presence to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," Congo's presidential office said in a statement.
BBC News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Mali-Russia: The countries sign trade deal as ties strengthen
Mali and Russia have signed a series of agreements aimed at expanding mutual trade and strengthening economic them is a pledge for greater cooperation on nuclear energy, according to details released by the announcement of the deals came during a visit by Mali's junta leader Col Assimi Goïta to Moscow, which included two hours' of talks with President Vladimir Putin, Russian state media has boosted relations with Russia since seizing power in 2021, while reducing ties with former colonial power France. This reflects a broader regional trend, with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger also pivoting towards Russia after the overthrow of civilian leaders. Speaking on Monday, Putin said that while trade ties with Mali were "modest" there was an upward trend and future areas of cooperation would be in "geological exploration, energy, logistics and the humanitarian field".Mali and Russia have previously discussed the construction of a Russian-designed nuclear power plant as a strategic energy project for Mali."This official visit will contribute to further deepening our relationship in a spirit of mutual trust and respect for sovereignty," Col Goïta said, according to a statement by the Malian expressed gratitude for Russia's "warm welcome" and affirmed Mali's willingness to strengthen the cooperation, which he said "covers many sectors".Military cooperation remains a key element of the Russia-Mali mercenary forces have supported Col Goïta's government since French and UN troops were expelled after years of counterinsurgency Wagner Group recently withdrew from the country, but another force, the Africa Corps, the army seized power in Mali, it cited the need to contain a deteriorating security situation as a major reason for the violence has worsened in recent years despite promises to deal with the Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, who held separate talks with his Malian counterpart Sadio Camara, said the priority of the Russia-Mali partnership was "to achieve practical results in enhancing security and sovereignty". "This approach is the key to any success and victory," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying. You may also be interested in: The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combinedMali to investigate claims soldiers 'executed' women and childrenThe doctor forced to go to the jihadist frontlineWhy Niger is saying goodbye to France but not the USDid coups in Mali and Burkina Faso halt jihadist attacks? Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
