Abuja, Nigeria —

Wagner, a feared Russian mercenary group that is notorious for staging a failed mutiny against Moscow and accused of committing serious abuses against civilians in Africa, is being replaced on the continent by another Russian paramilitary.

Its successor, experts say, is the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps.

For years, Wagner, which was funded by the Russian government and praised for its “courage and heroism” by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023, has embodied Moscow’s military offerings in the Sahel, a semiarid region of western and north-central Africa that extends from Senegal to Sudan.

With Wagner’s exit from swathes of the region, which is beset by recurring coups, armed rebellion and extremist insurgency, however, it seems the Kremlin wants a controlled,

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