| Country: | Mozambique |
| Details of Formation: | The Wagner Group is a Kremlin-linked private military company that was founded in 2013 by Dimitry Utkin, a veteran of the Russian military intelligence agency (the GRU). In early August 2019, the Wagner group signed a contract with the Mozambican government, because it was the lowest bidder in President Filipe Nyusi’s request for tender to help the government fight jihadist extremists in the province of Cabo Delgado. On September 13, 160 Wagner contractors arrived in Mozambique and military equipment was flown in twelve days later. |
| Details of Termination: | Apart from being ill-prepared for the tropical conditions and the local environment, the group struggled to cooperate and coordinate with the Mozambican army, as they were not able to communicate in the same language. The Wagner Group and the government forces lost territory and several of its fighters were killed by insurgents, who intensified their attacks. In November 2019, the Wagner Group evacuated Cabo Delgado and pulled back to Nacala to reorganize, retrain and develop a new operational plan. In March 2020, the group left Mozambique and was replaced by mercenaries from the Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), a private military company from South Africa. |
| Purpose: | The Wagner Group personnel was deployed in Cabo Delgado to help Mozambique’s government forces fight a local Islamist group called Ansar al-Sunnah, which is known locally as al-Shabaab. The group was employed to provide training and combat support, but also technical and tactical assistance to the Mozambican forces. The sources widely argue that Russia uses the Wagner Group to advance its influence in Africa, as it gives Moscow cover to deny involvement. In Mozambique, the group was claimed to enable Russian access to Mozambique’s natural resources and was supposed to protect the vast reserves of gas in the Cabo Delgado region. |
| Organisation: | The Wagner Group is owned and financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman with close links to Vladimir Putin. While the group was founded and first led by Dimitry Utkin, Konstantin Pikalov appears to be the new head of the Wagner group. The group does not officially exist in Russia where private military companies are illegal. Its relationship with the Russian state remains unclear. Some sources claim that it is a disguised unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and/or the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU), which allows Moscow to deny involvement in conflicts. |
| Weapons and Training: | The group members were trained in Russia in two camps next to the Intelligence Services (GRU) base before being sent abroad. In Mozambique, the group provided training, as well as technical and tactical assistance to the Mozambican military. Three helicopter gunships, an army truck, drones and 17 containers of different types of weapons, especially explosives were sent from Russia to Mozambique. |
| Size: | At least 160 military contractors from the Wagner group arrived in Cabo Delgado in mid-September. It is unclear whether further personnel followed later since other sources report about an estimated 200 to 300-strong deployment. |
| Reason for Membership: | The group’s mercenaries are usually retired former members of Russian security forces. Some are recruited from the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU). Relatives of deceased Wagner contractors reported that monetary incentives were a reason to join the group, with the pay being far higher than typical wages in provincial Russia. Estimates about the Wagner fighters wages vary between 80,000 and 300,000 rubles per month. |
| Treatment of Civilians: | The group conducted operations against the insurgents in collaboration with the Mozambican military. It targeted and killed insurgents, but there is no information on how civilians were treated by the group. |
| Other Information: | The Wagner Group was also involved in conflicts in the Ukraine, Syria and Libya, and operated in Venezuela, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Madagascar and has offices in many more countries. The group is named after its commander Dmitry Utkin, whose nom de guerre was “Wagner,” because he liked the composer Wagner and had an affection for the ideology of the Third Reich. |
| References: |
Marten, Kimberly. 2019. “Russia’s use of semi-state security forces: the case of the Wagner Group.” Post-Soviet Affairs 35(3): 181-204 Wikipedia. “Wagner Group”. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wagner_Group&oldid=1016336748 |