Russia’s foreign minister met with Sudan’s military rulers on Thursday, state media reported in Sudan, the latest stop on Sergey Lavrov’s tour of Africa.
The Russian diplomat’s main trip to Africa has sought to strengthen ties and expand influence at a time when the West has tried to isolate Moscow with sanctions over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Lavrov held talks with General Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of Sudan’s ruling Sovereignty Council, as well as his deputy General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.
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The meetings focused on improving cooperation between the two countries, the state news agency SUNA said, without giving details.
In a subsequent press conference, Lavrov acknowledged the presence of Russian-owned mining companies in Sudan, “mainly in the field of mineral resource base development.”
“We appreciate the attention paid to them by the Sudanese leadership,” Lavrov added.
According to a recent Associated Press investigation, the Wagner Group, a military contractor owned by an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has a strong presence in Sudan’s remote provinces. According to Sudanese officials and documents shared with the AP, the country’s military leadership has given the group control of several Sudanese gold mines in exchange for military and intelligence training.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Sudanese military leaders on Thursday. (Russian Foreign Ministry press service via AP)
In January, the Biden administration expanded US sanctions against the Wagner Group and related companies and individuals for their role in the war in Ukraine and mercenary activities, including human rights abuses, in Africa.
Asked about the group in the Khartoum press, Lavrov said that private Russian companies operate in Africa at the request of African governments, including the Central African Republic. In that African country, Wagner fighters roam the capital Bangui in unmarked military vehicles, protect the country’s gold and diamond mines and have helped keep President Faustin-Archange Touadera in power.
“We have commented more than once on the activities of our private military companies operating in Africa at the direct request of the governments of the respective countries,” Lavrov said. “This also applies to the Central African Republic, and is a contribution to the normalization of the situation in the region as a whole, where terrorist gangs are still active.”
Lavrov’s visit to Sudan comes as its military rulers are in talks with some political forces in the African country to restore civilian rule after more than a year of military rule following the October 2021 military coup.
On Thursday, senior diplomats from the United States and other European nations wrapped up two days of talks with Sudanese representatives to push for a final deal to return to a transition to democracy in Sudan, deeply embroiled in spiraling political and economic crisis.
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The coup derailed Sudan’s short-lived democratic transition that followed the ouster of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 amid a popular uprising against his repressive Islamist-backed government.
Lavrov arrived in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, after visiting Mali and Mauritania on his second trip to Africa this year. Central to his appeal to African nations has been to portray Russia as an anti-imperialist force, tapping into resentment of Western colonialism and oppression on the continent.
Russia’s growing influence was particularly evident in January in Burkina Faso, when protesters condemning France and the Economic Community of West African States waved Russian flags in the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou.
Underscoring Sudan’s volatile situation, a 15-year-old boy died on Thursday after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by security forces in Omdurman, near Khartoum, a medical group said.
Sudan’s Medical Committee said the teenager was taking part in anti-government protests, which have become almost weekly events in Khartoum and other major cities since the military took power. No further details were given.
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Most of the demonstrations are led by more fervent factions of Sudan’s growing pro-democracy network that refuse to negotiate with military leaders.
