Commentary: Why the Wagner Group’s influence in West Africa is growing
France has waged a counterterrorism campaign in the small West African country of Burkina Faso since 2018. But on Jan. 20, hundreds of protesters in the capital city of Ouagadougou waved Russian flags and demanded the French army’s ouster. Days later, the country’s military government told the French to leave within a month.
Burkina Faso is just the latest African country where the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked mercenary organization, has become the face of Russia’s foreign policy. The organization began in 2014 aiding Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea,
