Democratic Security Institute organizes
EDSN Thematic Exchange Series
Online Public Discussion
Atrocities of Russian Mercenaries in Africa
Date: 27 March 2026, 11:00 DC | 16:00 Abuja | 16:00 CET | 18:00 Ankara | 19:00 Tbilisi/Baku/Yerevan
For registration, please follow the URL:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Tqj0n9XHQIioEeF7IzpCzQ
Russian mercenaries, primarily from the Wagner Group (rebranded as the Africa Corps under Russia’s Ministry of Defence after 2023), have committed widespread atrocities in several African countries, particularly the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, Sudan, and to lesser extents Libya and Mozambique. These include mass executions (such as the 2022 Moura massacre in Mali where hundreds of civilians were killed), summary killings, torture, rape and sexual violence (including gang rapes and sexual slavery), beheadings, village burnings, forced disappearances, indiscriminate attacks on civilians (including drone strikes on weddings and burials), organ removal from bodies, and looting of resources like gold and diamonds to fund operations. In Mali, refugees in 2025 described ongoing cold-blooded murders, abductions, and extreme brutality by Africa Corps fighters, who often dehumanize locals; similar patterns of civilian targeting, harassment of minorities, and terror tactics have persisted in CAR since 2018, with estimates linking Wagner-linked forces to thousands of civilian deaths across the continent, often in support of local juntas or regimes in exchange for mining concessions, exacerbating instability rather than resolving conflicts.
Philip Obaji, Eurasia Democratic Security Network (EDSN) Fellow and a prominent Nigerian journalist, will share his investigation findings of grave violations and abuses by Russian paramilitaries in Central and West Africa, which he has been investigating since 2018. Philip Obaji has dedicated his work to exposing foreign interference and human rights abuses in Africa. He is a recipient of the 2025 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award, the 2024 Homo Homini Human Rights Award, the 2023 One World Media International Journalist of the Year award, and the 2022 Jaime Brunet International Prize. He has reported for Al Jazeera, Daily Beast, the Guardian and USA Today, among other outlets.
The session is hosted by the Democratic Security Institute (DSI) an independent, non-partisan thinktank based in Estonia. We are a team of policy and civil society professionals who are passionate about the power of democracy to bring security, social justice and prosperity to people living in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
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DSI runs Eurasia Democratic Security Network (EDSN) Fellowship program, with the generous funding of National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which is a network of prominent scholars, practitioners and other policy professionals, sharing an interest in the application of the concept of democratic security in the Eurasian region. The Democratic Security Institute (DSI) is an independent, non-partisan thinktank based in Estonia. We are a team of policy and civil society professionals who are passionate about the power of democracy to bring security, social justice and prosperity to people living in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.