265. Beverly Ochieng - Wagner is Active in Africa Extracting Resources to Fuel Russia’s Global Ambitions.

Historically, U.S. firms dominated the private security company market, in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. But in recent years they have been emerging in other countries. Warlords and militias have restyled themselves as private security companies, and in Russia we have seen the incredible consequences of PMC Wagner rising as a force to challenge the reputation of the regular military. Wagner is also active in Africa, building a private military empire and extracting resources to fuel Russia’s global power ambitions. The proliferation of private military forces is having a profound effect on international relations, meaning the twenty-first century may have more in common with the twelfth century than the twentieth. This poses significant risks to democracies across Africa. ---------- SPEAKER: Beverly Ochieng is an experienced journalist and commentator on socio-political, economic and security developments in Sub-Saharan Africa. She analyses political developments in the region, as well as security developments in West Africa and the Sahel. Beverly is a Senior Digital Journalist and Africa Specialist at BBC Monitoring. ----------- LINKS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverly-ochieng-267469143/ https://twitter.com/BeverlyOchieng