Wagner Mercenary Boss Progozhin Hails Military Coup In Niger Republic
LAGOS JULY 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass last month, has hailed Niger’s military coup as good news and offered his fighters’ services to bring order.
A voice message on Telegram app channels associated with Wagner that they said was Prigozhin did not claim involvement in the coup, but described it as a moment of long overdue liberation from Western colonisers and made what looked like a pitch for his fighters to help keep order.
“What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers. With colonisers who are trying to foist their rules of life on them and their conditions and keep them in the state that Africa was in hundreds of years ago,” said the message, posted on Thursday evening.
The speaker had the same distinctive intonation and turn of phrase in Russian as the Wagner boss although Reuters was not able to confirm with certainty that it was him.
“Today this is effectively gaining their independence. The rest will without doubt depend on the citizens of Niger and how effective governance will be, but the main thing is this: they have got rid of the colonisers,” the message said.
Coup leaders declared General Abdourahamane Tiani as the new head of state on Friday days after saying they had ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in the seventh military takeover in West and Central Africa in less than three years.
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The country, which is one of the poorest in the world but which also holds some of its biggest uranium deposits, declared full independence from former colonial ruler France in 1960.
The voice message was the latest sign that Prigozhin and his men remain active in Africa, where they still have security contracts in some countries like Central African Republic (CAR).
Prigozhin had told an African news outlet in an interview published online days earlier that Wagner was ready to increase its Africa presence and that a fresh batch of its fighters had arrived in CAR ahead of a constitutional referendum.
Wagner’s role in Africa is a source of concern for Western governments, including France and the United States. Washington has accused the group of atrocities and imposed sanctions on it. Prigozhin says it works lawfully.
Reuters
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Posted by News Rangers
on Jul 29 2023. Filed under International, National.
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