On April 20 at 8:06 p.m., a certain Dia Diarra, published on his Twitter account the video of a mass grave in Gossi in the north of Mali, and accused the French army of being the author. Wagner group's group survey.
What are the disinformation methods of the Wagner group in Africa?
The means of the Wagner paramilitary group to reach its objectives are varied. From the use of influencers to the creation of media and disinformation site, the militia floods Africa with false information. According to the African Strategic Research Center, since 2018, 19 disinformation campaigns have been directed against Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. An increasingly calculated strategy, as can testify to the ploy deployed during the coup in Niger.
Pro-Russian Telegram Telegram
In October 2022, following the coup in Burkina Faso, the Pro-Russian Telegram Telegram channels suggested Niger as a future target. There followed two rumors of coup d'etat in Niger, coinciding with a trip abroad of President Bazoum in February 2023. Following the putsch in the country, at the end of July 2023, Evgueni Prigojin, praised the events from Saint Petersburg, where he participated in the Russian-Africa summit, via an audio message on Telegram. " The fight of the Nigerian people against the colonizers who try to impose their rules of life to them, "said Prigojine.
Wagner-related networks have echoed the Declaration of Wagner official, acclaiming the coup, and therefore encouraged the violent repression of pro-democracy activists by exploiting confusion. The goal was to confuse and block citizens so that they do not react. The Wagner disinformation and propaganda ecosystem work in different ways to convey erroneous information.
Pan -African influencers
The use of influencers like Kemi Seba or Nathalie Yomb relaying false information under the guise of Pan -Africanism is one of them. A process which consists in hiring these influencers so that they discover simple and polarizing subjects and then accentuate them and make a controversy over their communities.
To feed this false information, the Wagner group then launches propaganda campaigns, often caricatured or with diverted images, on networks allowing Russia to position itself as a guarantor of fundamental freedoms in the face of French imperialism or Western democratic value.
The media affiliated with Wagner
The Wagner militia knows how to use the media to manipulate the populations in Africa, as can testify to a video broadcast on the Africa Média TV channel, partner of the media Russia Today, dated August 9, 2023, showing Mohamed Bazoum walking in a relaxed manner after having signed his resignation. The fallen president is actually maintained captive in the presidential residence since July 26, 2023 under conditions denounced by the international community. The diversity of Russian means of influence is substantial, and extends throughout the world
Wagner's propaganda tools: from "Lahkta project" to African Initiative
The "Lahkta project" carried out by Evgueni Prigojine, former leader of the Wagner group, has a wide spectrum of online propaganda activities, composed in particular of the "Pravda" sites. The General Secretariat of Defense and National Security (SGDSN), via the Viginum French Surveillance and Protection against Insicion and Protection, published a technical report in February 2024 on the activity of a vast system composed of 193 "Information portals". All of these “pravda” sites are named “Portal Kombat” in reference to the particularly offensive information strategy implemented by the administrators of these portals.
These sites, do not produce any original content, but automatically and automatically reply, information from three sources:
In September 2023, the African Initiative project was born. He is officially described as a news agency advocating a "just world and without neocolonialism". In reality, it is a well -crafted propaganda network, which only takes over from the Lakhta project, following the death of Prigojine. In addition, Viktor Lukovenko, the director of African Initiative, is a former Wagner agent.
Wagner's objectives in Africa
The development of the Russian sphere of influence on the African continent took a disturbing turn by manipulation of populations. The increasing numerous means of disinformation used by Wagner are intended to undermine democratic and Western values to promote the exploitation of minerals and establish the strategic domination of the Kremlin on the African continent.
According to The Blood Gold Report, more than $ 10 million per month in cash, or more than $ 200 million between June 2021 and June 2023 were paid to Wagner by the Malian transitional authorities, against protection. A real mining predation, which the authorities, financially strangled, finance through taxes on major gold extraction companies in Mali.
Algerian president Abdelmajid Tebboune said, at the end of December 2022, that the money invested by the Malian government to offer the services of the Mercenaries of the Russian group Wagner would be "more useful if it went in development in the Sahel".
