Page 53 - World Airnews Magazine March 2020 Edition

MILITARY MILITARY

AIR FORCE ANTONOV-26

The truth is that the majority of northern- gas rich Cabo Delgado Province. That was cover available for all these actions, but

ers regard the Mozambique Army operat- followed shortly afterwards in the region’s as the consequence have shown, heavy

ing in the region - the majority of whom are Macomia district when two Wagner soldiers jungle overgrowth limited the efficacy of
southerners - with suspicion, and in some were killed after their group had been the Hinds.

areas populated by the Makonde tribe, caught short in a road ambush. Five more Notable too, was that the Russian embas-

with hostility. Russian mercenaries were ambushed on 27 sy in Mozambique did not respond to a re-
Similarly, they have tarred the Russian October in the region’s Muidumbe district, a quest for comment from Sauer (with whom
newcomers with a distinct colonial brush, reliable Mozambique Army source told me. this writer has been in personal touch) MI-24 GUNSHIP - EARLIER VERSION OF THE TYPE DEPLOYED BY THE WAGNER GROUP IN MOZAMBIQUE

many of the locals vocal of having ‘foreign- According to several sources in Pemba, though the embassy did advise Sputnik, a

ers’ subjugate them, as did the Portuguese the biggest town in the area, four of the news agency established by the Russian to President Putin, quite a career leap for a ror campaign directed mainly at unarmed zambique army (Forças Armadas de Defesa

before they were driven out in 1974. Russians were shot dead at the scene of government-owned Rossiya Segodnyait, man who had served almost a decade in jail civilians. Gruesome photographs of muti- de Moçambique or FADM).

Mozambique by then had been a Portu- one attack and then beheaded; the fifth that it had no knowledge of the incidents. for robbery and other offences. lated and beheaded bodies have circulated During initial ground and air strikes, the

guese colony for almost five centuries. In was wounded and later died at the local The man behind the Wagner Group, a Under Putin’s protection, Prigozhin on social media combined forces bombed insurgent bases

the interim there have been quite a few Mueda district hospital. “The attackers first strictly mercenary force (though said to was awarded a string of lucrative state The death toll of this insurgency cur- in several areas, pushing them into the

Russians killed. set up barricades along the road, and when include troops from Russia’s regular army) contracts that apparently went towards rently stands at over 600, with many more remote interior, but that did not last long.
Within a week of arriving in the region the FADM vehicles arrived, they began is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former owner of bankrolling a private army, the so-called injured or internally displaced. Islamic The insurgents retaliated by launching

early October 2019, seven Russian Wag- firing and then beheaded some of soldiers a chain of hot dog and fried onion street Wagner Group which has so far seen action State has so far claimed responsibility for attacks on several government military

ner Group mercenaries were killed in two killed, Pjotr Sauer of The Moscow Times stalls in St Petersburg. He went on to in Syria, Libya and more recently, the 27 of the attacks, which raises questions as bases in which dozens - on both sides -

separate incidents involving Islamic State- told me. become the official chef and food taster (to Central African Republic and Mozambique. to whether ASWJ is the local affiliate of IS. were killed.

linked insurgents in Mozambique’s northern Significantly, there was helicopter top check that dishes had not been poisoned) With new contracts signed, it will soon also The consensus in Pemba is that this Jihadist Following the arrival of the Russians,

be active against Boko Haram radicals in group might be claiming credit to boost its Islamic State quickly reinforced its units
both Nigeria and the Cameroons. Uganda is public stature, especially since the loss of in Mozambique by rushing in ‘volunteers’
now also a client of the group and will act face caused by the fall of its caliphate in from other East African countries, Somalia
in unsettled areas adjoining Rwanda and Syria and Iraq especially; this soon led to an intensified

eastern Congo. For the first year or two when they series of guerrilla onslaughts. As one

Wagner origins are unclear, though we began to make their mark, the struggle observer commented, ‘the presence of

do know it started some years ago with an escalated sporadically, most victims being Wagner created an exponential increase in

outfit called Moran security which provides local tribal people, the majority non-Mus- incidents: it was as if someone had kicked

maritime security and other services, and lims. Because the army was unable to cope, the hornet's nest’.
has since spawned numerous subsidiaries, the Maputo Government asked Moscow for By mid-November, several Mozambique
including the Sewa Security Service the help, with promises of rich gas concessions and South African sources observed
official bodyguard of the president of the in the region as recompense. growing tensions between Wagner and

Central African Republic. It was then that Putin tasked the Wagner the FADM after a number of failed military

Mozambique’s Jihadi insurgency - a bitter, Group - or what the London Times has operations.
protracted struggle in a totally undevel- called ‘Putin’s Private Army’ - for the job. Joint bush patrols were halted and the

oped tropical region - has lasted three Roughly 200 Russian private military con- word did the rounds in Pemba, Nacala
years to date, with the guerrilla force active tractors (PMCs) - backed by several Hind and other cities in the north that there

in this gas-rich region now known to be helicopter gunships as well as a number had apparently been a breakdown in trust
linked to Islamic State. of Mi-171Es (which have the same per- between Moscow’s men and the national

Some of its members call themselves formance as the Mi-8MTV, but with more army.

al-Shabaab (because they had been trained sophisticated systems fitted) first started It is no longer a secret that Wagner

in Somalia) though officially it is known as operating along the Tanzanian frontier and regards Mozambique’s mil-

CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT HAVE BEEN CALLED IN BY THE Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jama, a name often used only later moved into the interior of the itary not only inadequate,

MAPUTO GOVERNMENT TO ASSIST WITH ROUTINE by Sunni Jihadist groups. Cabo Delgado Province. but badly trained, inefficient

PATROLS IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE There have been hundreds such incidents Air and ground forces were designated to and totally unmotivated. To page 52

since late 2017, coinciding with a brutal ter- operate in close co-operation with the Mo-

World Airnews | March 2020 World Airnews | March 2020
— 50 — — 51 —