Tag Archives: Mali

Russian “African Corps” regained control of Kidal half a year after losing the city Oct. 8, 2026 PMC “Wagner” mercenaries were able to capture Kidal for the first time in November… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →

When the Wagner Group, Africa Corps’ predecessor, entered Mali in December 2021, it was pursuing a resources-for-security deal like the one it had achieved in the Central African Republic. Along with my co-authors Chris Faulkner and Colin Clarke in our book, Moscow’s Mercenaries, I documented Wagner’s lessons learned, including the false hope that future operations would match the ease with which Wagner captured the state in the Central African Republic. There, the organization built a reputation as the guarantor of national security, and in return it gained full access to the state bureaucracy and economic access across the country — from gold and diamond mining all the way to beer and liquor sales. However, as I first argued in 2022, Mali proved a much harder nut to crack. Wagner’s failure to secure extractive resources in Mali was the beginning of the end for the organization, but Africa Corps — an organization directly beholden to the Russian state — has also failed to secure access to Malian gold after taking Wagner’s place. Continue reading →