The Battle for Africa

The attack by Tuareg militants and al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM group (Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin) against Mali’s military and Russia’s forces deployed in the country that happened on 27 July 2024 once again turned the spotlight on the activities of private military companies and foreign states’ interference on the African continent. 

Just after the strike, the militants made a social media post for “Ukrainian brothers”, expressing solidarity with them in their standoff with Russia. Shortly afterwards, Andriy Yusov from Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate claimed to have been involved in the Mali attack. However, experts were sceptical, arguing that countries such as France, Great Britain and the US, which still maintain a presence in Africa through mercenaries and private military companies, are better motivated and placed to carry out such an attack. At a deeper level, though, it is clear that the situation has changed fundamentally over the past 20 years, with both old and new rivals now vying for influence in Africa. 

Recently, the actions of ‘Eastern’ PMCs have been the most active and, therefore, have attracted the most attention. China is stepping up its economic activities on the continent through the 2013 Belt and Road Initiative, having signed agreements with 52 out of 54 African countries. Today, 10 thousand Chinese companies are based in Africa and around 2 million Chinese workers are employed in infrastructure development, housing construction, manufacturing and mineral extraction. Billions of dollars of investments require security and safety — Chinese nationals have already been killed, kidnapped for ransom, and construction camps attacked. Without recourse to local security forces, the Chinese government is left to find its own solution.

Russia’s successful experience of deploying PMC Wagner in Africa for 10 years has caused frustration in countries such as France, Great Britain and the US, which have traditionally been involved in Africa. Russia’s way of engaging with African countries differs from that of the West in its informality, agility and loyalty to the local population. This has allowed Russia to displace Western presence in the region, including in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso, and to win the sympathy and favour of millions of ordinary African people. 

Russia is known to have signed formal agreements with a number of African states to upgrade their armed forces. It is noteworthy that PMC Wagner made a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry in 2023 and, like all Russian PMCs, was placed under the control of the military department. Russia’s presence in African countries is therefore fully legal, transparent and open unlike that of other Western players, who hide behind various PMS names known to be implicated in military crimes, complicit in arms and drugs trafficking, kidnapping and a number of shady dealings. 

Turkey has been actively developing relations with Africa, opening a network of embassies across the continent in recent years. It focuses on increasing military cooperation, with Turkish military equipment deliveries increasing fivefold in 2021 alone. Turkey created a private company Sadat International Defense Consultancy (SADAT) in 2012. Its founder and owner Adnan Tanriverdy is a businessman, who was also an aide to President Tayyip Recep Erdogan from 2016 to 2022. Adnan openly stated that given Turkey’s deeply rooted military traditions Turkish private military companies can offer services to friendly countries and give work to retired and demobilized servicemen. Ultimately, they can be used as a foreign policy tool. Ironically, a Turkish PMC fought in a battle against Haftar’s Libyan National Army and Russia’s PMC Wagner in late 2019.  

In 2023, London stated its intention to step up security cooperation with African states including through training programmes for local militaries. This was announced by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly ahead of his trip to Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia. He said the West should offer Africa an alternative development scenario different from that proposed by Russia and China.   

Dozens of foreign PWCs are now active in Africa: Aegis Defence Services and G4S from the UK, Constellis and CACI from the US, Secopex from France, Asgaard from Germany and many others. Ukrainian mercenaries first appeared on the continent in the 1990s — initially pilots, then other military professionals. Ukrainian PMCs are now trying to enter the market for military contractor services in a number of African countries. According to media reports, the Ukrainian PCW Omega Consulting Group has recently opened an office in Burkina Faso. Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Herzegovinian military contractors, including former participants in the wars in Yugoslavia, are active in Africa. The number of such contractors is unknown and uncontrolled as the companies themselves tend to sign confidentiality agreements. Local elites usually have no interest in revealing their links with such organizations as they rely on them to stay in power while making huge profits.  

There is no doubt that Anglo-Saxons adhere to ancient traditions of colonial rule and are preparing for a new battle for the continent that has seen brutal competition among various countries, including the most powerful and influential ones. The promotion of interests and the implementation of long-term plans call for security and in some cases protection including armed. When the deployment of a regular army is impractical or faces constraints, the use of armed contractors such as Private Security Companies (PSCs) will remain an imperative. It may well be that the conventional approaches of Western states have failed or are becoming increasingly ineffective, as the Mali attack demonstrated once again.   

It may be worth recalling that the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was established by Security Council Resolution 2100 of April 2013 “to support political processes in that country”. By February 2023 the mission had grown to 17,430 personnel, including 12,000 armed “peacekeepers”. They were generously paid from an extra-budgetary account approved annually by the General Assembly. A whopping sum of $ 1,262,194,200 was allocated for the period July 2021 to June 2022. In addition to the blue helmets, French forces were also deployed in Mali since 2013 to fight local terrorist groups, including those linked to al-Qaeda. Paris had wanted to regain full control of Mali and when it became clear it would not happen, Emanuel Macron announced the withdrawal of French troops in June 2021. 

The Security Council ordered the closure of the UN Mission in Mali on 30 June 2023, and its staff was asked to leave the country by 31 December. Despite the fact that the Security Council’s decision to end the mission’s mandate was unanimous, an anti-Russian campaign was unleashed in the West. According to the latest news, Western states are not going to give up their aggressive policies in Africa, regardless of the fact that they are losing momentum. The American company Amentum PCW has announced it would operate in western Libya. Amentum is a “new” private military company that bought the old PAE Group only to abolish it in January 2022. Even the search term “PAE Group” redirects to the Amentum website. The aforementioned PMC Bancroft was a sub-contractor to PAE Group and was responsible for providing training under the umbrella of the international company ACOTA, and for demining and counterterrorist operations in Somalia. It seems likely PWC Bancroft will try again in Libya after its failure in the Central African Republic.