Russian mercenaries accused of deadly attacks on mines on Sudan-CAR border
Source: The Guardian
Russian mercenaries accused of deadly attacks on mines on Sudan-CAR border
Dozens of people said to have been killed in attacks allegedly involving Wagner Group fighters
Jason Burke in Khartoum and Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Darfur
Tue 21 Jun 2022 12.17 BST
Last modified on Tue 21 Jun 2022 14.06 BST
Russian mercenaries have mounted a series of bloody attacks on artisanal mines in the lawless border zones between Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR) in an effort to plunder the region’s valuable gold trade, witnesses and experts have said.
Dozens of miners are thought to have died in at least three major attacks this year allegedly involving mercenaries working for the Wagner Group, a private military company that has been linked to the Kremlin by western officials. There are also reports of further attacks on mines in at least six other places across CAR.
Witnesses interviewed in Sudan by the Guardian described “massacres” by fighters they identified as being from Wagner who swept through encampments full of migrant miners and mine workings between the north-eastern town of Am Daga and the frontier over a six-week period.
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The accounts have been corroborated by local civil society groups and international officials and are seen as “credible” in western European capitals, where security services are monitoring Wagner’s operations.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/21/russian-mercenaries-accused-of-deadly-attacks-on-mines-on-sudan-car-border
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Related: Sudan: Al-Burhan denies Russian involvement in gold exploration (Middle East Monitor)
