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International

Wagner forces coming to Nigeria

The security situation in Nigeria has been dramatically deteriorating: gangs on motorbikes terrorize the civilian population, stealing animals, kidnapping for ransom, killing anyone who confronts them.

The networks of terrorists and bandits grow and consolidate, and the Nigerian government is unable to tackle the situation.

The terrorists operate across large swathes of northern-western and central Nigeria, destabilising the country and posing threat to other states of the region.

Over the last two months, more than 300 students were kidnapped from their schools in Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi in broad daylight.

It is just one of the vivid examples of how out of hand is the security situation in Nigeria. It has been four years since the Nigerian security forces lost control over the situation and now the terrorists and bandits literally own the country.

One of the most prominent among them is Boko Haram, a terrorist organisation based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon.

They have inflicted chaos and distress on the people of Nigeria and keep building up an entrenched base in Nigeria that will become their starting point for expansion.

 On 20 May, Nigerian intelligence officials said that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau died after he detonated a suicide vest in order to avoid being captured during a battle with rival Islamist militants aligned with ISIS.

The violence inflicted by the terrorist groups, however, has only increased since then.

The government of Nigeria is desperately looking for support in this severe situation. In this light, the recent visit of the famous Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin is of great interest to military analysts and observers.

He has allegedly been seen in Lagos a short time ago. According to the Nigerian media a man, who looked very alike Prigozhin appeared during a meeting with the Nigerian Army's Chief of Staff, Farouk Yahya.

The source close to the Nigerian Army confirmed that the work is underway to bring Wagner's military forces to Nigeria to confront militants and terrorists in the north-east of the country, pointing out that Nigeria has become one of the main sources of the terrorist threat, as the capacities of Boko Haram grow day by day.

Russian presence in Africa is growing: there are several states already commanding services of the Russian private military company.

According to certain sources, they help the government of the Central African Republic to take control over the security situation when the coalition of armed groups marched on the capital.

Other Wagner forces are believed to be deployed in Libya, preparing the ground for the official army to establish bases on the Libyan territory.

Different other states are also mentioned by the observers when it comes to Russian influence on the continent: Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Angola, Mozambique and Madagascar.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.