Wagner: The dagger thrust into Sudan's back
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.
