This undated photograph provided by the French military shows three Russian mercenaries in northern Mali.
French Army via AP, File
Russia’s defense ministry created a new military unit this summer called the Africa Corps. The unit announced a recruitment campaign targeting former Wagner mercenaries and Ukraine war veterans.It’s promising a “high” salaries, “competent” commanders, and an alternative to a “peaceful” life.
A new Russian military formation with the same name as a Nazi unit is trying to recruit former Wagner Group mercenaries and soldiers who fought in Ukraine for combat operations in Africa.
Russia’s defense ministry created the Africa Corps over the summer as a means of expanding Moscow’s footprint on the continent and in the Middle East, and the new force appeared to announce an extensive recruitment campaign in a newly formed Telegram channel this week.
It’s promising an unspecified “high salary,” payments in foreign currency, service under “competent commanders,” medical care, and social benefits.
The new initiative looks to be the latest sign of Wagner’s diminishing independence in Africa, where it long maintained a clandestine — and deadly — presence in several countries on the continent until the war in Ukraine shot the mercenary group into the limelight, thanks to its brutal tactics on the battlefield. After Wagner’s June mutiny, Russia moved to assume more control over the organization, which has only increased since the August death of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The long-term fate of the mercenary group in Africa has, however, largely remained unclear over the past few months.
On Telegram this week, the Africa Corps said that it’s prioritizing the recruitment of Russians who previously fought in Ukraine, as well as current and former Wagner mercenaries, who make up around half of the corps’ personnel.
The unit said it’s looking for personnel who have various combat specialties, including operating tanks, artillery pieces, drones, air-defense systems, and armored fighting vehicles.
This undated photograph handed out by French military shows Russian mercenaries boarding a helicopter in northern Mali.
French Army via AP, File
In one ominous message, the unit directly appealed to veterans who can’t find themselves in a “peaceful life” and referenced the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan or the Chechen wars, saying those veterans suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, went into crime, or developed serious drinking problems.
“Now, when Russia has become strong and has challenged the whole world, it needs professional warriors more than ever,” the Africa Corps wrote in a Telegram message, according to a translation.
The Africa Corps said its leadership consists of “experienced” combat commanders who oversaw “elite” units belonging to the Russian army or private military companies. It added that some of its commanders previously served in Wagner leadership roles and it respects their service in the mercenary organization. For this reason, there’s no ban on talking about Wagner or wearing its logo, the unit emphasized.
The Africa Corps specified a few restrictions for interested applicants, one of them being that personnel currently fighting in Ukraine can’t transfer over, nor can individuals in the Rosgvardia — Russia’s national guard — before their contract is over.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said this week that the Africa Corps’ desire “to clarify eligibility for service suggests that its advertisement campaign has successfully generated interest among former Wagner personnel” given that some mercenaries signed contracts with Russia’s defense ministry or the Rosgvardia after Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of Russian private mercenary group Wagner, gives an address in camouflage and with a weapon in his hands in a desert area at an unknown location, in this still image taken from video possibly shot in Africa and published August 21, 2023.
Courtesy PMC Wagner via Telegram via REUTERS
“The Africa Corps suggested that it would operate in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso — areas consistent with ISW’s previous assessment of the Africa Corps’ area of operations,” the analysts wrote in a Wednesday assessment.
Wagner has been known to be active in Mali — among several other countries, where the mercenaries acted as shadowy extensions of Russia’s foreign policy machine and have been accused of committing various atrocities. Fears had emerged over the past few months, however, that Niger and Burkina Faso were moving closer to the organization.
The countries named do not appear to be random — the Africa Corps alluded on Telegram to a “window of opportunity” in Africa that had emerged due to declining Western influence in some countries. One specific example of this that the unit cited was the French military withdrawal from Niger following a July coup in the country.
Ultimately, the Africa Corps said, this could pave the way for Russia to pounce on its geopolitical interests throughout the continent.
The name for the new unit, Africa Corps, is the exact same one used by a German expeditionary force that was active on the continent during World War II. Nazi leadership formed the unit, which was active during the North Africa campaign, in 1941, but it eventually surrendered to Allied forces in 1943, with most of its prisoners of war transferred to camps in the US.