Russia’s defense ministry created a new military unit this summer called the Africa Corps. The unit announced a recruitment campaign targeting former Wagner mercenaries and Ukraine war veterans. It’s promising a “high” salaries, “competent” commanders, and an alternative to a “peaceful” life. A new Russian military formation with the same name as a Nazi unit is trying to recruit former Wagner Group mercenaries and soldiers who fought in Ukraine for combat operations in Africa. Russia’s defense ministry created the Africa Corps over the summer as a means of expanding Moscow’s footprint on the continent and in the Middle East, and the new force appeared to announce an extensive recruitment campaign in a newly formed Telegram channel this week. It’s promising an unspecified “high salary,” payments in foreign currency, service under “competent commanders,” medical care, and social benefits. The new initiative looks to be the latest sign of Wagner’s diminishing independence in Africa, where it long maintained a clandestine — and deadly — presence in several countries on the continent until the war in Ukraine shot the mercenary group into the limelight, thanks to its brutal tactics on the battlefield. After Wagner’s June mutiny, Russia moved to assume more control over the organization, which has only increased since the August death of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The long-term fate of the mercenary group in Africa has, however, largely remained unclear over the past few months. On Telegram this week, the Africa Corps said that it’s prioritizing the recruitment of Russians who previously fought in Ukraine, as well as current and former Wagner mercenaries, who make up around half of the corps’ personnel. The unit said it’s looking for personnel who have various combat specialties, including operating tanks, artillery pieces, drones, air-defense systems, and armored fighting vehicles.
via business insider: A new Russian military formation in Africa with the same name as a Nazi unit is trying to recruit former Wagner fighters and Ukraine war vets
sieeh dazu auch: Russia’s #WagnerGroup Rebrands to Name Used by Nazis in Africa – #AfrikaKorps Longtime Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin ran the private military company until August, when he died in an apparent plane bombing. The notorious Russian mercenary Wagner Group has adopted a new name in the Sahel region of West Africa that happens to be identical to the one used by the Nazis’ African battalions during World War II. The paramilitary group now known as “Africa Corps,” closely mirroring the Nazi “Afrika Korps,” has been shoring up power in the Central African Republic, Libya, and other African nations since at least 2018. Hitler created the Afrika Korps in 1941 to help Italy, part of the Axis, maintain and expand its territorial gains in Northern Africa. The Nazi leader gave the infamous commander Edwin Rommel the job of leading the elite unit until it dissolved in 1943. Wagner’s name change appeared to come as Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov visited several African nations, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, in early December to maintain Russia’s presence in the region during the period of transition, French newspaper Le Monde reported.