African countries wary of offending Russia over war recruits

Kenya’s Foreign Minister is visiting Russia this week under pressure back home to convince Moscow to stop recruiting Kenyans into its military, but Nairobi – like other governments in Africa – is unlikely to take too confrontational an approach, reports TimesLIVE. Reports in recent weeks revealed the scope and scale of the recruitment of Africans into Russia’s depleted forces, often via third parties offering lucrative civilian jobs, triggering anger in countries like Kenya, Ghana and South Africa. Families want more action to bring the recruits home but African governments, wary about overtly taking sides during Russia’s war in Ukraine, have avoided angering Moscow, mindful that the recruitment scandal has not yet triggered widespread public outcry or political heat. Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, told Reuters ahead of his trip.’We are getting a lot of pressure from some of the affected families who are now gathering more courage to come forward and speak to the issue.’ However, Mudavadi said he was ‘pragmatic and realistic’ over the issue, describing Russia as a superpower with which Nairobi has had a long relationship. Ukraine says there are over 1 700 Africans fighting on the Russian side, though analysts say that figure is likely higher. More than 1 000 Kenyans alone have been recruited, according to a report by the country’s intelligence agency. Mudavadi said he could not give a precise figure for Kenyans involved in the conflict. In February, Ghana said more than 50 Ghanaians had been killed in the Ukraine war after being ‘lured into battle’.

Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, told Reuters the true figure could be higher. Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in Ukraine. Ablakwa said Ghana has and would maintain diplomatic relations with Russia. ‘But let me be clear: where Ghanaian citizens are being harmed, deceived, or drawn into a war they did not understand, we will speak plainly and we will act,’ he said. Ablakwa said he was working with other African countries to try to address the issue as a continental one. ‘This is bigger than Ghana,’ he said. 'If Africans are being lured into a foreign war through deception and exploitation, then Africa should respond collectively.' Still most African governments are likely to take the cautious approach of SA, a Russian ally, which has seen dozens of its citizens duped into going to war in Ukraine, according to TimesLIVE. ‘We’re ... investigating the conditions under which people left,’ Zane Dangor, director-general of SA’s Foreign Affairs Department, told Reuters. Inpact, a Geneva-based organisation that has investigated the Russian recruitment networks, said the recruitment of Africans was the core of a deliberate strategy to beef up waves of soldiers meant to overwhelm Ukrainian defensive lines with waves of assaults. Pier Pigou, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said he didn’t think the issue would dent relations between Russia and African countries until there was a significant political backlash.