The US cannot allow Russian mercenaries to continue ransacking the African continent

Mercenaries in Africa are plundering natural resources for the benefit of Russian influence. To promote peace and security, human rights and good governance, the United States must take a strong leadership role to conserve Africa’s wildlife, forest, water and mineral resources.

All eyes turned to Moscow when news broke of an uprising against the Kremlin, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group of private military contractors. The rebellion, staged in opposition to Russia’s tactics in its war in Ukraine, was ultimately short-lived. Despite leading the advance on Moscow, Prigozhin reached a deal, and the Wagner Group stands poised to continue operations stretching from Ukraine and Syria to West and Central Africa.

The Wagner Group, while long advancing Russian interests in conflict regions, has ostensibly maintained a degree of separation from the Kremlin, providing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government some level of deniability for the atrocities and human rights abuses perpetrated by Wagner forces. Following the uprising, however, Putin has now publicly acknowledged, for the first time, the Kremlin’s role in funding the mercenary group.

Meanwhile, on the back of horrific reports of Wagner’s extensive involvement in exploiting Africa’s natural resources, including minerals and timber, the U.S. Treasury has unveiled new sanctions tied to Wagner Group activities in Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR), adding two mining companies, among other actors, to the SDN List for a scheme funding Wagner’s campaigns through gold and mineral sales.

With this scheme, the Russian-backed mercenaries prove themselves no better than the armed insurgents they’ve been requisitioned to repel. Reports dating back to 2015 found millions in corrupt payments were made through the timber trade, paid out to competing armed groups in the CAR. And, in the broader landscape spanning parts of the CAR and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), non-state actors like the Lord’s Resistance Army are among the main perpetrators of wildlife trafficking.

While authoritarian leaders build statues to Russia for aiding in armed conflicts, people across the Sahel region, and the natural environment on which they depend to survive, are bearing the burden of resource depletion and land degradation. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reports that 45 percent of Africa is affected by desertification, including 65 percent of productive lands. For the agriculture-dependent region, climate impacts are a force-multiplier for what is already home to one of the poorest populations in the world; prolonged droughts drive increased competition for land and water resources and result in cyclical violence, which extremists can exploit. Now, nearly half of terrorism deaths occur in the Sahel.

To be sure, sanctions deliver the message that the U.S. opposes the Wagner Group’s exploitation of natural resources, but they will not empower the African people to value, protect and sustainably manage the resources available to them. This requires an investment in Africa’s people and places — the protected and conserved areas most critical to safeguarding biodiversity and mitigating climate impacts.

Well-managed protected areas can be the anchor to bring about good governance and inclusive development for the benefit of people and nature. Consider Chinko in eastern CAR: the largest employer outside of the country’s capital, where park officials took in community members displaced by rebels, helped them rebuild, and built trust and partnerships to secure biodiversity in and around the park. Or take W National Park in Benin, a protected area caught in the crossfire of conflicts along the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger, where rangers are the front-line defense against armed groups seeking staging ground in the remote national park.

America’s interests in Africa are clear. Africa is home to the world’s fastest growing population and some of the last strongholds for biodiversity. Its potential for economic growth is immense, and its landscapes offer global benefits for climate mitigation. It’s a critical arena for countering violent extremism and stemming the tide of international organized crime.

The Wagner Group and Russia’s aim in Africa? An anti-Western, anti-democratic “confederation” of African states. To say nothing of China’s own ambitions on the continent.

To counter this malign influence, the United States must resolve to better engage the African continent to promote democratic values and sustainable development. Through continued U.S. leadership in addressing environmental crime, long-term public and private investment in Africa’s people and vital wild places, as well as partnerships with Western allies, marginalized communities and local stakeholders, conservation can be a key component in securing U.S. interests in the region.

Roy Howell is policy adviser and director of operations for the International Conservation Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit organization that educates and acts as informal secretariat to the leadership of the bipartisan U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus.