Is Russia an agent of destabilization in Africa or a lifeline for nations seeking sovereignty? In this second installment of our extended conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne, we challenge Western historical narratives and explore the hard truths behind Africa’s security challenges, the transition from the Wagner Group to the Africa Corps, and the shared grievances that are drawing Moscow and the continent closer.
U.S. Out of Africa: Voices from the Struggle
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin spoke with Professor Gerald Horne for a special two part exploration of the Russia/Africa relationship. Professor Horne holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is the author of more than 30 books including most recently The Capital of Slavery: Washington D.C. from 1800-1865, a regular guest on the Horne Report which airs on Black Power 96 Radio Sundays at 3:30PM EST, and host of Freedom Now on KPFK Los Angeles, Saturdays at 11AM PST.
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin: When people discuss Russia in Africa these days the primary focus is on security relationships. From the West (which is to say the US and most of the rest of NATO,) the narrative is that Russia is an agent of destabilization, whereas for many Africans Russia is a lifeline providing arms and materiel that the NATO camp have either refused to or offered only with onerous conditions attached. Can you speak to this discrepancy?
Dr.Gerald Horne: Well, it's obvious that the North Atlantic camp, they do not want the African nations to have allies. They want to be able to feast on Africa without Africa being able to call on Russia for assistance. That particularly is the case with regard to the Sahel nations, speaking of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger who are trying to move in a progressive direction, witness the recent trips to Moscow of the leaders of both Bamako and Ouagadougou, the latter being Ibrahim Traore, who of course was in Moscow on May 9th, 2025, the holiest day on the Russian calendar, marking the victory over fascism. This was the 80th anniversary marked in 2025. And so it reminds me of North Atlantic nations and their relationship to China as well. I mean, [the] United States is in hot to the people's bank in Beijing, and if you go to Walmart or most major US retail establishments, a good deal of the merchandise is made in China, but at the same time, hypocritically, they turned to African nations and say, don't deal with China! Well, of course the African nations might well say, Physician heal thyself! When you break relations with China, we will consider it. But until then you should shut up, basically, and mind your own business. So we really can't take seriously these complaints in the North Atlantic camp about Russia's relations with Africa. African nations are sovereign nations. They're allowed to make their own decisions. The North Atlantic nations, of course, they don't necessarily listen to the instructions from Africa, and Africa therefore reciprocates by not listening to the instructions from the North Atlantic nations.
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin: Much of Russian military activity on the continent over the last several decades has occurred through private entities ranging from the Bout network, to PMC Wagner. Especially in light of the documented relationship between Viktor Bout and the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, coupled with the fact that RSF (Rapid Support Forces) in Sudan is reportedly being supported by both Wagner and the UAE where Bout had much of his operation based, (notwithstanding Russia making overtures to the Sudanese armed forces at the same time,) are private military contractors a fundamentally destabilizing force? Do victories such as the retaking of Kidal in November of 2023 challenge this thesis?
Dr.Gerald Horne: Well, I would say that it was probably a step forward when Moscow decided in the wake of the death of Mr. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, to seek to restrain shall we say euphemistically the Wagner Group and to fold its operations into the government, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, because I think that these private military groups in some ways are an expression of some of the unfortunate post-Soviet trends. You might recall that in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, December 25th, 1991, there was a kind of free-for-all in terms of the looting of natural resources creating billionaires for example, some of whom had to be reigned in subsequently by Mr. Putin to the consternation of Washington and London. And the Wagner group in particular, although as you suggested, was able to accomplish certain victories that could very well be deemed to be progressive, this sort of security for minerals proposition which they embodied was not necessarily a step forward, speaking in euphemisms. In fact, you see another expression of security for minerals with regard to these recent deals cut by US imperialism with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And of course when you talk about these private military groups, we have to bring up Eric Prince, a comrade of Mr. Trump, who has sent forces most recently into Haiti for example in the wake of the apparent failure by Kenyan police forces to reign in what are called gangs in Haiti. And now Eric Prince and his band of thugs was supposed to accomplish that goal. So I think it would be good for Black Alliance for Peace to look skeptically at these minerals for security/security for minerals deals, to look skeptically at these private military groups. But notice that I said look skeptically. I think that presumption and opposition to them can be overcome, but there has to be a considerable weight of evidence to overcome that particular presumption.
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin: After the 2023 death of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, we are seeing the transition from Wagner to the newly inaugurated Africa Corps which is run by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Does national attribution bode to increase accountability and how would you compare and contrast Africa Corps with AFRICOM? Is there a reason why African nations could not forgo both for the much vaunted but seemingly ephemeral APSA (African Peace and Security Architecture?)
Dr.Gerald Horne: Well, with regard to the latter, that is something to consider. The problem with the latter is whether or not the Pan-African bodies have the muscle and the resources to combat these malign forces. I mean, for example, to cut to the chase, you mentioned Sudan and you mentioned the United Arab Emirates. My own supposition, and I would like your crack research team to look into this more deeply, is that a number of the Gulf monarchies are interfering grievously in the internal affairs of African states, not only Sudan, but I would argue that the religious zealots who are seeking to destabilize the Sahel nations also have a lifeline that leads back to the Persian Gulf. That creates contradictions because on the one hand, US imperialism, as referenced by Mr. Trump's recent trip to that part of the world, he is clearly in bed with the Gulf monarchies, witness the ill-fated, ill-advised Abraham Accords whereby some of these monarchies were warming relations with Israel, and of course that stretches all the way to Morocco. At the same time, these religious zealots, the contradiction is that they can easily destabilize US allies. Speaking of Cote D’Ivoire, for example, speaking of Northern Nigeria for example. But in any case, I think that the Gulf monarchies, they're trying to satisfy internal domestic issues with regard to religious zealotry in their own homelands by allowing them to run amuck in Africa. They're sort of exporting the issue to the continent, which they think will allow them to continue in their merry way. But in any case, my point is, I'm not sure if Pan-African bodies have the resources to confront the complexities of what I've just outlined which therefore causes them to call upon external allies such as Moscow to help them to resolve these tensions and contradictions reference my speaking to the trips to Moscow, Traore, Goita, et cetera.
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin: Widening our aperture, how do you assess Russia’s overall relationship with the continent? Considering multilateral entities such as BRICS, or perhaps energy affairs, what are Russia’s interests, what are Africa’s, and do they appear congruent?
Dr.Gerald Horne: I think so. I think that obviously the African nations have historic and contemporary grievances with regard to the North Atlantic countries. Russia, as I've tried to indicate, has historic grievances with regard to the North Atlantic countries. And at this point, let me issue a footnote that is rarely addressed, but I think it's important, which is that with the breakup of the Soviet Union, and here advert to what I said about how even defeats can lead to contradictions that are difficult to resolve, you saw that Russia or the Soviet Union, it was disrupted. You created these independent states. Now on the one hand, this allows for the North Atlantic countries, for example, to try to turn Azerbaijan against Russia, to try to turn the Baltic republics against Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp in Eastern Europe then allows for the attempt to turn or to enhance and exacerbate Polish tensions with Russia. Of course Poland has talked about creating a Fort Trump, for example, which would be useful to that end, even Bulgaria, which traces its sovereignty to 1877/1878 when Russia intervenes to try to rescue it from the clutches of Ottoman Turkey has been moving in that Polish, Baltic, Azerbaijan direction. So that's on one side of the ledger. It creates enormous complexities and complications, not only for Russia, but I would say for international peace and security. But at the same time, the breakup of the Soviet Union created new contradictions for the North Atlantic camp. I mean, for example, you have geostrategic analysts going back to the beginning of the 20th century who suggested that the fulcrum of planet earth rests in Central Asia, in the ‘Stans’ for example, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, et cetera, once part of the Soviet Union, now close to Russia and close to China. So if you had honest analysts of US imperialism, they would look into that and draw appropriate conclusions. But of course, you cannot expect honesty from thieves. I should also say that, to put this in language that Wall Street can understand, in many ways Russia was subsidizing many of these other republics. And so when the Soviet Union breaks up, that curtails, if not ceases, the subsidies which helps to explain the economic growth of Russia despite sanctions by the North Atlantic countries, and that's not even to mention the fact that the Ukraine proxy war has driven Russia and China closer together and geostrategic analysts from the beginning of the 20th century through Henry Kissinger have thought that that would be a nightmare for US imperial interests. But in the footnote, now to return to the question, I would say that the interests of Africa and Russia are parallel insofar as both have a common grievance with regard to the North Atlantic countries. However, given the fact that post 1991 Russia is not the same as the Soviet Union, you have billionaires, you have profit making enterprises, inevitably there are going to be contradictions between certain interests of Russia and certain interests of sovereign and independent Africa. But as the BRICS example tends to illustrate, BRICS includes not only South Africa, but Ethiopia and Egypt, I think that those contradictions can be overcome. It's not as if they're the same as the contradictions between say the African nations and the North Atlantic camp.
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin: Finally, if we avoid tired US tropes, do there remain any exploitative conditions deserving of challenge in the name of African sovereignty and self-determination?
Dr.Gerald Horne: It depends on what you mean. I mean, for example, both Africa and Russia, or raw material exporters heavily dependent upon the export of oil; if you look [at] in the case of Russia, Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, for example, the export of energy, energy including natural gas; Russia, Algeria, for example, the export of precious resources; platinum in the case of South Africa and Russia; diamonds in the case of Namibia and Russia; uranium in the case of Namibia and Niger. And so the OPEC example, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is the exporting countries banding together for mutual benefit, in some ways that sheds light on the parallel interests between Africa and Russia. That is to say, the parallel interests are seeking reasonable prices for their commodities being exported and therefore taking it out of the pockets of the importing countries, speaking of the North Atlantic countries. And therefore you begin to see the contradiction because the North Atlantic countries would like to pay lower prices for the aforementioned commodities. Russia and the African nations would like to see higher prices. The latter then unites Russia and Africa on a common platform. For example, Russia and Africa would like to see the rampant and rampaging interference of North Atlantic countries in the internal affairs of sovereign nations be circumscribed, to put it mildly. And the North Atlantic countries would like to continue that because they think that it's to their benefit, and certainly US imperialism thinks it's to their benefit at least up to July, 2025.
News and Analysis
SPEECH: Why We Use Violence, Frantz Fanon, 1960
Editors, The Black Agenda Review July 23, 2025
The Fraudulent Peace Accord between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda signed in Washington DC, June 2025 | Pambazuka News
by Horace Campbell, Pambazuka News July 10, 2025
Campbell interrogates the recent DRC-Rwanda peace accord brokered in the US which he terms fraudulent; and poses the question: can the US and Qatar support peace in Africa amidst the militarization of the continent?
Trump White House Further Exposes Its Racism and Ignorance During Visit by Five West African Leaders - Global ResearchGlobal Research - Centre for Research on Globalization
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Global Research July 24, 2025
Rwanda: Victoire Ingabire Denied Bail, Remanded to Prison | Black Agenda Report
By Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report July 23, 2025
Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire’s arrest belies Rwanda’s pretense to liberal democracy and its pretense to self-defense in DRC.