“Long live Russia!”
“Stop the French genocide in Mali!”
The oppression of Western countries and especially the exploitation of the former colonial master France must be put to an end. This is what the demonstrators in Mali’s capital, Bamako, demanded.
The demonstration is organized by Yerewolo, the most famous pro-Russian people’s movement in Mali. In addition to Malian flags, Russian flags fly in the crowd.
Mali became independent from France 62 years ago, but according to the protesters, France never let go of Mali.
Mali is the latest example of how Russia has rapidly increased its influence in Africa.
The means are different in different parts of the continent. In strong states, Russia does business and nurtures official relations. In weak states, it works behind the scenes, using mercenaries and fake news operations.
Right now, Russia sees its opportunity in West Africa.
Several researchers tell that Russia’s purpose is to acquire resources and influence in the Sahel region. At the same time, an important goal is to disrupt Europe.
– Russia has opened another front in the Sahel countries in addition to Ukraine, says the researcher Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim. He is an expert on Sahel conflicts at the International Crisis Group research institute.
As a tool, Russia uses the mercenary company Wagner, to which official Russia denies any connections.
French Army published in April, a video in which, according to it, a mass grave in Mali is being staged. France shot the video when allegations about France’s crimes had started to spread on social media.
The messages claimed that bodies had been found near the French base in Goss. The discovery would have been revealed immediately after France, which withdrew its troops from Mali, had handed over the base to Mali.
Behind the operation was according to France (you switch to another service) Wagner, who organized both the staging and the disinformation campaign blaming France on social media. The purpose was to accuse France of atrocities.
This is what the video that spread on Twitter looks like:
The UN investigated the case came to that result (you switch to another service)that the bodies shown in the video had been brought to the scene from elsewhere a day after France had handed over the base to Mali.
According to France, the incident is an example of Russia’s information war in Mali.
Russian mercenaries have been operating in several African countries. According to various estimates, at least a thousand Wagner soldiers have been stationed in Mali.
According to Mali, the Russians act as trainers and do not participate in battles. In practice, the soldiers terrorize the population together with Malian forces and carry out punitive attacks, the majority of whose victims are civilians, sums up from the EU’s Foreign Affairs Administration leaked report (you switch to another service).
Eyewitnesses to the attacks describe white men who do not speak French, a language that local people would recognize.
The worst carnage yet saw each other in March (switch to another service)when the Malian army and several sources soldiers you identify as Russian (you move to another service) killed at least 300 people in the village of Moura, most of whom were civilians.
The carnage describes Wagner’s operation in Mali: the soldiers do not try to distinguish who is a possible member of a terrorist group.
Mali has quickly turned to Russia. Its relations with the West soured when the West allowed the soldiers who seized power to return to democracy.
Even last year, there were thousands of soldiers from France and other EU countries in Mali supporting and training the Malian army. The goal was to dam extreme Islamic terrorism, so that it does not spread to the European side at worst.
Now the French troops have left, and the EU has frozen its training operation.
Finland also planned to send dozens of additional soldiers on training missions. The project was canceled when Mali turned to Russia and the war of aggression in Ukraine began.
Russia’s most important asset in Africa is that it is not the West.
Unlike European countries, Russia has not had colonies in Africa. This appeals to many Africans now that many countries are calling for the final dismantling of the remnants of colonial rule.
Although Russia is at war in Ukraine, it is investing above all in Africa image as an opponent of imperialism (you move to another service). At the same time, it highlights the injustices committed by Western countries. The message is spread by Russian media such as RT and Sputnik and also local media.
A straight woman has been seen in Mali and its neighboring countries Attack of pro-Russian content (you will switch to another service) on social media (you switch to another service) during the last year. Messages are even more precisely tailored to local reality and local languages.
According to the researcher, Russia’s message sinks in because it manages to present its actions as respecting the interests of African countries.
The fact is that European attempts to curb Islamic extremist terrorism in the Sahel have not led to results. Many in the region are also fed up with France’s influence in the countries’ economy and politics, and the way Western countries have fraternized with corrupt elites.
– The win-win speech hints that cooperation with Russia is more genuine, Sahel researcher Ornella Modera of the Dutch Clingendael research institute says to .
Unlike Western countries, Russia also does not set moral conditions for its support and does not demand democracy.
Russia also exploits the same dissatisfaction on the other side of Africa.
The continent’s economic power South Africa is an important partner of Russia.
Precious Banda opens his home door In Johannesburg’s Midrand, a walled and heavily guarded residential area.
Successful people like him live in the neighborhood: educated and well-to-do people. South Africa, the third largest national economy in Africa, is one of the continent’s success stories.
Banda is a member of the leadership of South Africa’s ruling ANC party and is well aware that outside the walls of his home, millions of South Africans still suffer from poverty.
According to Banda, the main reason for the poverty of Africans is the western countries. First they exploited Africa as colonial masters, since then the exploitation has continued with the help of development aid and loans.
Russia had no colonies, and it does not set conditions for cooperation, Banda says.
– Russia is on the side of the oppressed in the world, and that’s why we value it, he emphasizes.
Russia’s trump card in South Africa and many of its neighboring countries also have a Soviet legacy.
The Soviet Union supported the liberation movement ANC in the 1970s and 1980s in the fight against the brutal system of racial oppression in South Africa. It armed and trained ANC forces. Young political influencers like Precious Banda are also well aware of this.
Today, the ANC party is also tied to Russia by the economy.
Center for Investigative Journalism According to AmaBhungane’s report (you will switch to another service) a significant part of the ruling party’s income comes from a manganese mining project jointly owned by a foundation supporting the party and a Russian oligarch to Viktor Vekselberg affiliated companies.
One of the latest Russian projects in the country is the state-run Russia Today channel.
In the spring, the RT channel ceased to be visible in Africa, when the Luxembourgish satellite company suspended its broadcasts due to EU sanctions. A detour was found in a couple of months when a Chinese-owned company operating in South Africa gave space to RT (you switch to another service) on its own frequency.
Now RT is establishing its new African distribution in South Africa.
When the UN has voted this year In terms of condemning Russia’s invasion or its illegal territorial alliances, almost half of African countries have either abstained or abstained. One of these countries has been South Africa.
In the West, the actions have been interpreted as support for Russia. In Africa, many people have a different understanding of the matter.
– People here no longer accept the fact that someone comes to tell them how to behave or what to think, says the researcher Yacoob Abba Omar.
He refers to previous situations where the West has demanded African countries to stand in a united front against enemies defined as evil. According to Abba Omar, what followed from the “coalition of the willing” of the Iraq war and the Libyan no-fly zone was nothing but chaos.
Abba Omar is himself a product of the great power competition during the Cold War. He works as the research director of the South African think tank Mistra, but his background is an ANC freedom fighter.
As a young activist, Abba Omar escaped from South Africa and ended up in the Soviet Union to be trained by the security service KGB. He graduated in Moscow in the 1980s as an intelligence officer.
Now Yacoob Abba Omar stands strongly on the side of liberal values. But he also criticizes the way Western countries market values to Africans.
– Western countries don’t really know how to listen. They just explain that the Russians are bad, why don’t you judge them, Abba Omar describes.
What has Russia achieved? In sub-Saharan Africa, that its partnership appeals?
Russia is Africa’s largest arms dealer, and investments by Russian state-owned companies in the energy and mining sectors bring money to some. But Russia, especially right now, does not have such economic power that it could help poor countries become prosperous so that the benefit would flow to all citizens.
– And I’m not sure if Russia even has the intention to do such a thing, says researcher Ornella Moderan.
In the Central African Republic, Wagner’s soldiers have kept the government up against the rebels, but at the same time the country’s leadership has become dependent on Russia.
Mali claims it is now winning the battle against the jihadists. According to the US (you will switch to another service) There are clearly more terrorist attacks in Mali than before.
Because of the war in Ukraine, Africa is at least as important to Russia as before.
Militarily, Russia is trying to stay in sub-Saharan Africa as long as possible, says the Russia researcher Stanislav Secrieru.
– It is not only about military or political influence, but also about financing the war in Ukraine, says the European Union in the EUISS research institute (you switch to another service) working for Secrieru .
Russian actors in Sudan to be smuggled (you switch to another service) according to different information (you switch to another service) gold from the mines, which has been fattening the president for years Vladimir Putin checkout. In the same way, Russia is estimated to use the minerals in Mali as well in exchange for support for the junta.
Military presence is exaggerated with information operations. With them, Russia tries to create an image of performance.
Russia is still able to export weapons to African countries. But when it continues its war of aggression in Ukraine, arms exports will decline, as will arms maintenance, Secrieru estimates. Some African countries, on the other hand, may buy their weapons elsewhere in the future so that they do not become subject to US sanctions.
If Russia is unable to hold on to Africa militarily, it will seek to do so by other means.
According to Secrieru, Russia will invest in diplomacy and intelligence in the future. Russia can take its advisers to support African leaders and place in Africa, for example, diplomats expelled from Europe, some of whom actually work in intelligence missions, Secrieru estimates.
More and more Russian material is seen in the media of different African countries. Russia also aims to continue training Africans in Russia.
For Russia, its policy in Africa is part of a larger world political power game.
Putin brought up the theory of a “billion-man elite” in the summer. According to the theory, for centuries the people of the Western countries have amassed a disproportionate share of the world’s wealth for themselves.
According to Putin, now is the time to build a fairer and more multipolar world order. Its core could be the so-called BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China – and South Africa.
This thinking resonates throughout Africa.
– We need a new world order where African rights are finally recognized. In this fight, Russia has positioned itself alongside Africa and Africans, South African Precious Banda formulates.
What thoughts does the story evoke in you? You can discuss the topic until Monday, November 28 at 11 p.m.
Aissata Touré, Seydou Keita and Adama Dicko speak in the opening video of the story. The video material from the demonstration held in Mali, Bamako on 22 September 2022 was obtained by a local film crew.
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