Russia Pours Troops Into Africa’s War-Ravaged Sahel, Putting US on Alert

Moscow boosts its military presence in Africa’s troubled Sahel region, while the US comes under pressure to withdraw its troops.

French Barkhane force soldiers who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty in the Sahel board a U.S. Air Force C130 transport plane to leave their base in Gao, Mali, on June 9, 2021. Jerome Delay/AP Photo

JOHANNESBURG—Military instructors from Russia’s Africa Corps, successors to the Wagner Group, have arrived in the West African nation of Niger, with a complete air defense system and other weaponry, security analysts told The Epoch Times.

They’re the latest troops to enter one of Africa’s most dangerous battlegrounds, the Sahel desert region, where jihadists are fighting government forces from several West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.