Wagner: The dagger thrust into Sudan’s back

Ahmed Adel

There is concern over growing involvement by the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group in the conflict in Sudan.

The members of this group are deployed in areas adjacent to Sudan, including eastern Libyan and Central Africa. They are present in Sudan too.

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has justified the presence of the group on the African continent by saying the governments and legitimate authorities in the Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan and a number of other countries had asked Wagner to provide services to them. Wagner, he said, is a private security company.

In turn, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, expressed concern about the presence of the Russian group in Sudan.

He said the group which is active in Mali and the Central African Republic and participates in the war in Ukraine brings nothing with it but death and destruction.

Political, security unrest

Wagner’s anchored forces, whose activity extends to several fields, including arming, training and deploying mercenaries, carry out economic activities that grow in the shadows. They thrive in political and security unrest.

This makes troubled Sudan a profitable investment place for Wagner and Moscow, of course.

Violence and crises expert, Mohamed al-Sharqawi, said Wagner elements fight a proxy war in Sudan.

“Experience proved this to be true,” al-Sharqawi told The Reference.

He invited attention to the situation in Mali and the Central African Republic.

Let sceptics, he said, look at these countries to realize this.

Al-Sharqawi noted that Wagner forces hinder efforts to resolve the crisis in Sudan and escalate the crisis in the country.

“This is not to mention the violations the group commits against the sovereignty of Sudan,” he said.

He pointed out that Wagner’s presence in Sudan began in December 2017.

The group, he added, gained presence in this country to provide political and military support to ousted Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir.

This presence, he added, was the result of the Russian-Sudanese negotiations in November of the same year.