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After Mali and Mauritania, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Sudan on Thursday, where he praised the operations of the Wagner paramilitary group. He also said that he supported the request to lift the sanctions imposed by the UN on the country, mired in an economic and political crisis.
On a visit to Sudan, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, defended on Thursday, February 9, that the operations of the Wagner paramilitary group in Africa are “helping to normalize the situation in the region” in the face of the “terrorist” threat.
The Russian private group “deploys at the direct request of governments,” Lavrov said, citing the Central African Republic, a country considered Wagner’s laboratory on the African continent, before the company turned its attention to other countries, such as Mali and Burkina Faso. .
Founded in 2014, this reviled paramilitary group, considered by the United States as an international terrorist organization, has become one of the main actors in the conflict in Ukraine. His mercenaries have also been seen in Syria and Libya.
The United States, 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” on the continent.
In 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on ‘M-Invest’, a Russian company accused of providing “cover” for Wagner’s mercenary activities in Sudan.
According to the US Treasury, the company obtained in 2017, under the government of dictator Omar al-Bashir, “concession agreements to explore gold resources in Sudan.”
Sudan denies the presence of the Russian security group on its territory.
Meeting with General Abdel-Fattah Burhan
Sergei Lavrov’s 48-hour visit to Sudan, the last leg of an African tour after Mali and Mauritania, is part of Moscow’s move to bolster its influence in Africa as the West moves to isolate the country since Ukraine’s invasion in February 2022.
Arriving in Khartoum late on Wednesday, Lavrov met on Thursday with General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, Sudan’s de facto chief, with his deputy, General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, head of the feared Rapid Support Forces (FSR). ) paramilitaries, and with the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali al-Sadiq.
After the meeting, the Russian minister told the press that he supported Sudan’s efforts to end the UN sanctions on the country, which is mired in an economic and political crisis. Khartoum is subject to a series of sanctions and an arms embargo adopted in 2005 during the bloody conflict in Darfur in the west of the country.
“We also talked about our economic and investment cooperation” that unites both countries, Sergei Lavrov said, praising Khartoum’s efforts “to attract Russian investment.”
The economy of the large East African country, one of the poorest in the world, has been battered by years of US economic sanctions under the government of Omar al-Bashir.
The democratic transition offered some hope: in 2020, Washington removed Sudan from its list of countries that support terrorism, international aid returned, but the coup led by the army chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, on 25 October 2021, interrupted the transition and help; the latter will be restored on the condition that civilians regain power, warn donors.
*With AFP; adapted from its original in French
