Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ended a visit to several African countries, including Angola, in Sudan this Thursday, after defending the actions of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in Africa at this last stop.
According to Lavrov, Wagner’s paramilitaries, classified as mercenaries by Western countries, went to Africa “at the request of African governments to help normalize the situation in the region in the face of the terrorist threat”.
In this regard, the head of Russian diplomacy mentioned the Central African Republic (CAR), a country that was considered Wagner’s laboratory on the African continent, before intervening in other countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso.
Founded in 2014, this paramilitary group with actions denounced by the United States of America (USA) and considered an international terrorist organization by the United States of America (USA) has established itself as one of the protagonists of the conflict in Ukraine and its mercenaries have also been observed in Syria and Libya.
The US, which has been trying to counter Russian influence in Africa for several years, accuses the Wagner group of “committing human rights violations and extorting natural resources” from the African countries where it is present.
In 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on M-Invest, the Russian company accused of serving as a “front” for Wagner mercenary activities in Sudan.
In 2017, under the regime of dictator Omar al-Bashir, the company obtained “concession contracts to exploit Sudan’s gold resources,” according to the US Treasury Department.
Sudan, for its part, denies the presence of the Russian security group on its territory.
Lavrov’s 48-hour visit to Sudan, the final leg of his African tour after Angola, Mali and Mauritania, is part of Moscow’s efforts to strengthen its influence on the continent as the West seeks to isolate the country as a result of the invasion of Sudan. Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The visit to Sudan began Wednesday evening and today he met General Abddel Fattah el-Burhan, the country’s de facto leader, and Deputy General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, head of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and the acting foreign minister. Ali al Sadiq.
At the end of this meeting, Lavrov stated to the press that Russia supports the efforts of Sudan, a country plunged into a deep economic and political crisis, to end the sanctions imposed on it by the United Nations .
Sudan is subject to a series of sanctions and an arms embargo imposed by the UN in 2005 during the bloody conflict in Darfur in the west of the country.
The economy of this East African country, one of the poorest in the world, has been crippled by years of US economic sanctions under the Al-Bashir regime.
The democratic transition after Al-Bashir led the West to open up: in 2020, Washington removed Sudan from its list of countries supporting terrorism and international aid returned, but the coup was led on October 25, 2021 by the army chief, General Abddel Fattah el-Burhan, interrupted the transition and the granting of this aid will not resume until citizens return to power, donors warn.
Source: DN
