So gradually that the press didn’t notice, nontraditional countries took over the mercenary trade. Colombian mercenaries working for North African strongmen have taken over one of the largest refugee camps in the world. “The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have handed over control of the massive Zamzam camp for displaced people to Colombian mercenaries, a camp spokesman alleged on Sunday, months after the RSF seized the area.”
For those who never heard of Zamzam it is located 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, Sudan. It is refuge to 500,000 to 1 million people, predominantly women and children, fleeing various conflicts. Generations of moviegoers accustomed to watching the “Wild Geese” and the “Dogs of War” should realize that the soldiers of fortune no longer take their orders from clubs in London but from Moscow and other such places.
The former Wagner Group, now called the Africa Corps, provides combat support, training, and security for governments and resource extraction operations. Known for securing mining concessions (e.g., gold mines in Mali) and supporting authoritarian regimes. The group has been accused of human rights abuses, including civilian killings in Mali and CAR. Since the Wagner Group’s reorganization after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death in 2023, it operates as Africa Corps under Russian military intelligence (GRU) control. It has an estimated 1,645 contractors in Mali (2023), 2,000 in CAR (2022), and up to 20,000 foreign fighters in Libya (2020). The Institute for Strategic Studies writes:
The inability of regional organisations to deal with security crises, and constraints facing mechanisms such as the African Standby Force, have led to an increasing reliance on private military contractors. Their functions range from training troops and providing advice in Burkina Faso and Niger to direct combat involvement in Mali and CAR, where the Russian Wagner group – now Africa Corps – is openly used.
Fictional African states need real armies and — to the embarassment of the UN — often find it more convenient to rent them from Russia or Colombia than build it themselves. As to the lack of Russian mercenary movies to replace the British ones, that is being amended. For those who have not seen it yet watch The Tourist.