Voice of America: Military contractor deaths raise questions about Russia’s security presence in Africa

Published Nov. 4, 2019 at 4:27 pm

New recruits for the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) perform a drill during a medal presentation demonstration in Berengo on August 4, 2018. - Russian military consultants have set up training for the Central African Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces after delivering weapons to the country. Already trained by the European program (EUTM), the soldiers are trained in the handling of weapons by the Russian consultants.

Photo by AFP

The possible deaths in northern Mozambique of military contractors employed by a Russian firm are raising new questions about Russia’s security presence in Africa.

Five soldiers employed by the Wagner Group, a private military firm with connections to the Kremlin, and 20 soldiers in FADM, the Mozambique Defense Armed Forces, were killed in an ambush in Cabo Delgado Province’s Muidumbe district on Oct. 27, according to Carta de Moçambique, a local publication. Insurgents were said also to have burned two vehicles in the ambush.