The Russian PMC, Wagner Group, has been operating in Africa, primarily in the Sahel, since 2017, providing its clients with security services and direct military support as well as pushing Kremlin propaganda lines. Wagner is involved in mining and other extractive economic activities and has been implicated in human rights violations. The death of Wagner's CEO, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash near Moscow, leaves the status of the mercenary group in doubt. Clarissa Rodio, an expert on private military companies, joins Africa Program chair Charles Ray to discuss Wagner's future in Africa, in particular the possibility of its presence in Niger following the military takeover in that country, and the implications of countries like Mali and Niger, state parties to the 1977 OAU Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa, making use of Wagner in their countries.

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