The New ‘Africa Corps’: Russia’s Wagner Rebranding

The term Wagner Group elicits a visceral response in many corners of the world. To the West, it describes a group of paramilitary mercenaries who operate above, and, in many cases, out of the reach of the rule of law. To Russia, Wagner evokes contradictory images of heroism and betrayal. And for Russia’s client states in the Middle East and Africa, the brand has become a symbol of Russian strength and commitment. Today, Wagner’s old Africa branch has been rebranded as the Africa Corps. Working under the auspices and control of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Africa Corps continues in the tradition of Wagner — for better or for worse, depending on whether an ally or adversary of Russia.

The Wagner Group was the brainchild of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and confidant of President Vladimir Putin. Its roots are grounded in the early days of the Donbas conflict between the Ukrainian government and Russian separatists that broke out in 2014, having been founded by Prigozhin to provide military support to the Donbas separatists.

Following implementation of the Minsk Accords in early 2015, which brought relative calm to the Donbas, Wagner Group was in search of a mission. Opportunity soon knocked, first in Syria in 2015, where Wagner became involved in several operations in support of Russian military forces dispatched to assist the Syrian government against anti-regime forces, and in Africa, where the group combined its security-related activities with entrepreneurship to forge informal relationships that traded military support for preferential opportunities in mineral extraction, including gold, oil and gas. By the end of 2021, Prigozhin had built a personal fiefdom that saw Wagner fighters operating in Sudan, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mozambique and Mali. By early 2022, Wagner Group had assembled a force of 5,000 fighters, led by some of its most experienced battlefield commanders.

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. By May, the fighting had expanded to the point that the Russian government turned to Wagner to rebuild its Donbas operation. By the end of that year, Wagner had more than 30,000 fighters in Ukraine, many recruited from Russian penal institutions. While the Ukraine operation dwarfed the Africa branch, Wagner continued to expand its African footprint, reinforcing existing operations while dispatching around 1,000 more personnel to Mali, where Wagner supported a military junta that sought to evict France from Malian territory.

Revolt and Rebranding

As a private military contractor, Wagner was prohibited by law from operating on Russian soil. When, in September 2022, Russia annexed the Donbas and two other Ukrainian provinces following a controversial referendum, Wagner found itself in legal peril. The Russian government agreed to recognize its one-year contract with Wagner, set to expire in May 2023, with the understanding that, by that time, Wagner would transition from being a private military contractor to a force under contract to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Prigozhin and several Wagner combatant commanders balked at this requirement, and in June, Prigozhin and around 8,000 Wagner fighters staged an insurrection, capturing the Russian military headquarters in Rostov and sending a column of troops toward Moscow — all in an ostensible effort to get the Ministry of Defense to back down from its demands.

The revolt collapsed in less than 24 hours under threat of imminent destruction from the Russian government. In the aftermath, Wagner’s Ukraine operation was closed, its fighters forced into either exile in Belarus, early retirement, or to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense. The Africa branch, which was not involved in the Prigozhin uprising, continued its work unabated. However, the men assigned to Africa were scheduled to rotate out, meaning that they, too, became caught up in the post-revolt drama of being compelled to leave Wagner or sign up with the Ministry of Defense. The Africa branch transition was further complicated by Prigozhin’s African economic empire, much of which operated outside the framework of Russian law. Prigozhin and the Russian defense ministry were in the process of decoupling Prigozhin’s financial entanglements from the Wagner branch’s military obligations when Prigozhin and several of Wagner’s top leadership were killed when a plane carrying them exploded in the air over Russia in August 2023.

In the months following Prigozhin’s death, the Ministry of Defense has made great strides in bringing Wagner’s Africa branch under its control. Under the direction of Russia’s deputy defense minister, Col.-Gen. Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the Africa branch was rebranded as the Africa Corps in December 2023. Yevkurov, who played a key role in negotiations that ended the Wagner revolt, has worked with former commanders to maintain the Wagner spirit in the Africa Corps, allowing veterans to wear their old ranks and permitting Wagner traditions to continue. Meanwhile, the new Africa Corps has been supplemented by regular forces from the Russian defense ministry and a new generation of volunteers, recruited using the former Wagner networks.

Russia In, France and US Out

The rebranded Africa Corps has seen its status as an extension of Russian foreign and national security policy enhanced by a diplomatic offensive by the Russian government, initiated in July 2023 at the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg. Since then, the combination of Russian diplomatic goals and the Africa Corps’ military capabilities has seen Russia not only retain the footprint in Africa established by the Wagner Group, but expand its operations, especially in the strategic Sahel region. There, a series of military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger saw French and US forces evicted from bases, and replaced by the Africa Corps.

The Africa Corps is now a common force among the three African nations that make up the new Alliance of Sahel States. The group’s work coincides with diplomatic and economic initiatives that aim to make Russia a major player on the African continent. Moscow will likely seek to expand the operations of the Africa Corps in a region that is increasingly rejecting its postcolonial relationship with France and the post-Cold War hegemony of the US.

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