The Russian mercenary group gets mines in return for propping up autocratic leaders.
Wagner founder, Russian Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash northwest of Moscow on 23 August 2023. Under its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, the sinister Russian Wagner Group of mercenaries has for years plundered African mineral resources in several countries in exchange for ruthless protection of autocratic governments against their military, commercial and political foes.
Wagner, the mercenary outfit at the core of the Wagner Group, which comprised several companies mainly in the mining field, has been brought under tighter Russian military intelligence control and is now called Africa Corps. Some mining operations continue, apparently under Prigozhin’s old Concord holding company.
The first Wagner company to arrive was Lobaye Invest in October 2017, receiving licences to mine gold and diamonds across a swathe of CAR territory. In exchange for military and political support, Wagner Group companies M Invest and Meroe Gold – the latter now renamed Al Solag – received several gold concessions, mainly in River Nile state, The Grey Zone report said.
Wagner intensified its relationship with “Hemedti” Dagalo – no doubt because he had a stranglehold on gold mining. The joint venture was purported to have been set up as a quid pro quo arrangement, giving Wagner a slice of Madagascar’s mineral resources in return for its interference in the country’s 2018 presidential election in favour of President Andry Rajoelina.