Burkina Faso has allegedly made an agreement with Russia's Wagner Group in which the mercenary outfit will help the West African country deal with surging jihadi violence in exchange for a mine.
Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo made that claim about neighbouring Burkina Faso during his visit to the United States, where he is attending the US-Africa summit.
Speaking about the growing violence linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group in the West African region, Mr Akufo-Addo said Burkina Faso allocated a mine to the Wagner Group as a form of payment for its deployment of fighters in the country.
"To have [Wagner] operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana," Mr Akufo-Addo said while standing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the summit on Wednesday.
For six years Burkina Faso has been struggling to stem jihadi violence that has killed thousands, displaced nearly 2 million people and made swaths of land inaccessible.
Lack of faith in the Burkina Faso government's ability to contain the jihadi insurgency has led to two coups this year.
After the latest coup in September, the Wagner Group was among the first to congratulate the new junta leader, Ibrahim Traore, raising questions about his relationship with Russia and how big a role it played in catapulting him to power.
People with close ties to Burkina Faso's ruling junta said pressure had been mounting on the leader of the first coup, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, for months to work more closely with Russia, but he had refused.
The Associated Press could not independently verify Ghana's allegations, and Burkina Faso's government did not immediately respond to questions about the Ghanaian president's claim.
Mr Akufo-Addo's comments came on the heels of a trip to Moscow by Burkina Faso Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela to further strengthen relations with Russia.
The visit was planned to "consolidate the international community's efforts in combating the terrorist threat" in the region, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
France and its European allies pulled thousands of troops countering Islamist militants out of neighbouring Mali earlier this year as relations deteriorated with the military junta after it agreed a deal with Wagner, which is staffed by Russian army veterans, to operate in the country.
Wagner in Africa
The Wagner Group was founded in 2014 by hospitality tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin, who goes by the nickname "Putin's chef" due to his close links to the Russian leader.
It was first deployed as a pre-invasion force before Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Since then its mercenaries have been accused of a long list of war crimes, including in the current Ukraine war.
The group already has established footholds for Russia in at least half a dozen African countries, including in Central African Republic, Sudan and Mali.
Earlier this year, it was linked to at least six alleged civilian massacres and the extrajudicial killings of 300 people in Moura village in Mali, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Last year, a group of UN experts said Wagner was involved in "grave human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law" alongside local armed forces in the Central African Republic.
In 2020, the Pentagon said it had evidence Wagner mercenaries had planted landmines and other explosives in Libya.
Gold, diamonds and oil
As Russian President Vladimir Putin's costly war in Ukraine continues to attract crippling sanctions from the international community, the spoils of Wagner's operations in Africa have become particularly important to Russia.
Wagner mercenaries have been accused of robbing and killing gold miners in the Central African Republic and Sudan.
The group is also accused of forcing its way into the illicit diamond trade and controlling oil and gas interests in Syria.
Earlier this month a new mining concession was given to Nordgold, a Russian mining company that has been operating in Burkina Faso for more than a decade.
A permit for industrial exploration was granted to the Nordgold Yimiougou SA company in Sanmatenga province in the Center North region, said a statement from Burkina Faso's Council of Ministers.
The four-year agreement is estimated to contribute some $US8 billion ($12 billion) to the state budget. Burkina Faso is one of the largest gold producers on the continent.
Both Nordgold and the Wagner Group are Russian companies, although there is no known connection between them.
The pace of Islamic extremist violence is increasing in Burkina Faso and getting closer to the capital, Ouagadougou, which could make the desperate junta welcome support from the Russian mercenaries, said Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory.
"This could have significant negative implications for Burkina Faso and the region," he said.
"Wagner mercenaries have operated with impunity and they are unlikely to be held accountable for any human rights violations."
'Putin's chef' says Wagner must be 'invulnerable'
A statement attributed to Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin did not directly address Ghana's concerns.
But he accused Western governments and intelligence services, including the CIA and armed United Nations missions, of carrying out some of the offences Wagner has been accused of in Africa, including possessing vast mineral resources, carrying out illegal mining and arranging coups.
"Wagner must be invulnerable to protect those whom Western hawks are trying to humiliate, rob or destroy," he said.
France has been particularly angered by Wagner's role in Mali, but also in Central African Republic and Mozambique.
When asked if France could corroborate Mr Akufo-Addo's comments, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told a news conference that Paris and its European partners continued to be available to cooperate with Burkina Faso in what she described as a "worsening security and humanitarian situation".
"With regard to Wagner, our message is well known, Wagner has distinguished itself in Africa by a policy of predation, a policy of plundering, which harms the sovereignty of states," she said.
ABC/Reuters/AP
