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After years of saying little about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, African nations are showing growing signs of irritation with Moscow for luring their citizens to fight and die on the Russian army’s front lines.
African leaders are increasingly speaking up about a clear pattern in which paid recruiters in Russia and Africa coax young men to come to Russia with promises of civilian jobs or training. Once they arrive, they are urged or forced to join the Russian army, which has run short of soldiers for its human wave assaults on Ukrainian positions.
The investigative journalism organization INPACT reported in February that 1,417 Africans had served in the Russian army or mercenary organizations, and 316 had died in combat. The highest death tolls were among citizens of Cameroon, Ghana, and Egypt.
Fighting in other countries’ wars has long been a sensitive subject in Africa. European colonial powers recruited or coerced a million Africans into their armies in World War II. These Africans suffered high death tolls, and those who survived received little recognition.
Early in the Ukraine war, Russia appeared to seize on this sensitivity to turn Africans against Ukraine. Suspected Russian assets distributed fake appeals in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire for young men to join the Ukrainian army.
But as Russia began struggling with shortages of troops, it changed tack and turned to recruiting Africans for its own forces.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged African governments last November to publicly warn their citizens against fighting for Russia, which he said treats them “as second-rate, expendable human material.”
Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said last month that nearly 300 Ghanaians had been drawn into the fighting, many lured by job offers that became military deployments. According to Ablakwa, 55 of them had died. “They have no security background. They have no military background. They have not been trained,” he said in a news conference in Kyiv. “They were just lured and deceived and then put on the front lines.”
Similarly, a February intelligence report to Kenya’s parliament detailed that 1,000 Kenyans had been recruited to fight for Russia, and 89 were on the front lines as of that time. It further noted that one Kenyan had died, 39 were hospitalized, and 28 were missing in action. Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi called the trafficking “unacceptable and clandestine” and called for an agreement with Moscow barring the recruitment of Kenyans.
Moreover, it hasn’t been just the Russian government doing the recruiting. News reports indicate the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenya, which now has a growing presence there, had encouraged citizens to travel to Russia.
Similarly, South Africa, a BRICS member nation that has preserved strong ties with Russia, announced February 26 that two of its nationals had died fighting for Moscow. Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola visited the families of 11 citizens whose return to South Africa had been negotiated. The men had been promised security training in Russia. In November, officials had received a call for help from South Africans who said they were trapped fighting with Russian mercenaries in Donbas.
Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry likewise warned its citizens in February against fighting in foreign conflicts. The ministry did not name Russia, but said several Nigerians “were deployed to combat zones after being misled and coerced into signing military service contracts.”
Last year, Ukraine’s United24 media network produced an interview with a Togolese man who said he was deceived into joining Russia’s forces and captured on his first mission. The network said its report, translated into French, went viral in Togo. The government thereafter alerted citizens to the danger.
Not all Africans fighting for Russia are victims. One told INPACT that the French had killed a relative and that he was proud to fight with Russia. He said he had obtained Russian citizenship and that European countries such as France were next on Russia’s hit list.
Those who are deceived into fighting for Russia are recruited by local agents or directly from Russia. Kenyan police arrested a 33-year-old man after his return from Russia on charges of recruiting for the Russian military. At least five people were under investigation in South Africa, including a daughter of former President Jacob Zuma.
Inside Russia, private firms reportedly have begun searching online for foreigners who are “prospective candidates for work in Russia”—including those “with military experience or who wish to receive it.” The news outlet Important Stories reported that some of the firms’ income comes from Russian companies under pressure to send employees to the front lines. The companies can satisfy that obligation if they find foreigners to take their place.
All this marks a significant change. Over the past four years, African nations have generally kept a low public profile in the conflict, seeking not to take sides. The deaths and deceptions of their citizens, however, have reached the point that they cannot remain silent.
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