Russia's notorious mercenary army, the Wagner Group, is plundering Africa's natural resources to help pay for Moscow's war machine in Ukraine, the Middle East and beyond, the US ambassador to the UN said on Thursday.
Wagner is widely believed to be tied to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, though Moscow denies any involvement.
The shadowy private military contractor operates in dozens of nations, including Syria and Ukraine, and trains local troops across several African hotspots including the Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Wagner of taking advantage of countries it works in and using “ill-gotten gains” to help power Russia's military operations.
“We know these ill-gotten gains are used to fund Moscow's war machine in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine,” she told the UN Security Council.
“Rather than being a transparent partner and improving security, Wagner exploits client states who pay for their heavy-handed security services in gold, diamond, timber and other natural resources … This is part of the Wagner Group's business model.”
She was speaking at a session led by Gabon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Adamo, dedicated to “strengthening the fight against the financing of armed groups and terrorists through the illicit trafficking of natural resources”.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield cited a “common interest” in ensuring that African wealth is not stolen and redirected for illicit purposes.
But Russia's ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia accused the US of “anti-Russian rage”.
“African states are not our clients, they are our partners. I would like to recall here, by the way, that in Syria, the US, under the cover of counter-terrorism, was stealing Syrian oil,” Mr Nebenzia said.
India's Minister of State for External Affairs Vellamvelly Muraleedharan said groups linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda in Africa are embedding themselves in domestic conflicts, attempting to influence and control the political agenda.
“What we need is a zero-tolerance policy,” Mr Muraleedharan said.
Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan, UAE Minister of State, said the illegal exploitation of natural resources has become an “artery” for terrorists and criminal actors.
“They are turning these resources into a curse,” he said, noting that there is an “undeniable correlation” between the illegal exploitation of resources, climate change and the spread of terrorism.
“As we have seen in the Sahel, the regions that are most vulnerable to climate change tend to also be the most vulnerable to the scourge of terrorism,” Sheikh Shakhbout told the council.
The exploitation of natural resources has fuelled at least 18 violent conflicts since 1990, the UN reported.
Kenya’s UN ambassador Martin Kimani urged the Security Council to dismantle terrorism networks in Africa, saying they pose a “dire” threat in far too many countries.
“The protection of peace and security in Africa is impossible if the continent's natural resources as not reclaimed for the people,” said Mr Kimani.
“It is time that Africa's natural resources fully benefit the African people.”
The UN Development Programme said that Africa is home to about 30 per cent of the world’s mineral reserves, 8 per cent of the world’s natural gas and 12 per cent of the world’s oil reserves. It also has the world's largest deposits of cobalt, diamonds, platinum and uranium.
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Pathaan
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 0
Stoke City 0
Man of the Match: Erik Pieters (Stoke)
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
UAE v Zimbabwe A, 50 over series
Fixtures
Thursday, Nov 9 - 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 11 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Monday, Nov 13 – 2pm, Dubai International Stadium
Thursday, Nov 16 – 2pm, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 18 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
