Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley,  Commander of U.S. Africa Command (Wikipedia Commons)

By  Gary  Raynaldo     –   DIPLOMATIC   TIMES

WASHINGTON   D.C.  –   African nations would be better off by not getting involved with the controversial Russian Wagner Group to help solve their problems,  according to the Commander of U.S. Africa Command Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley.  The AFRICOM Commander made the comments while delivering the 2023 U.S. Africa Command posture statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee  Thursday.  During the two-hour hearing, Langley answered questions from committee members on topics ranging from Chinese activities in Africa and resourcing requirements to the command’s assessment of the extent of Russian destabilizing activities.  In a statement provided to the committee, Langley maintained  that Moscow tramples African interests by leveraging Wagner, a U.S.-designated transnational criminal, mercenary organization, to aggravate weak governance and feed instability.

“Russia’s Wagner mercenaries turn chaos into cash,”

-U.S. AFRICOM Commander Langley

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley, U.S. Africa Command commander, provides testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee posture hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., March 16, 2023. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. John Wright)

Langley was confirmed as a general in August, making history as the first Black four-star Marine general in 246 years.    Gen. Langley commands all U.S. military forces in Africa from AFRICOM’s headquarters in Stuttgart.

On August 9, 2022,   Gen.  Langley became AFRICOM’s sixth commander since the command was established in 2008.   Many Kremlin critics claim the Russians are obtaining valuable minerals such as oil, bauxite, diamonds, gold, chromium and uranium in the Sahel and Central Africa in exchange for the Wagner Group’s services.  Last year, Langley’s predecessor,  Commander Stephen Townsend said Russian mercenaries were operating in West Africa nation Mali via the Wagner Group. According to Gen. Townsend, the Mali government has to pay a hefty price for the reported “mercenary” services to the tune of $10,000,000/per month to the Russian Wagner Group, a private military company.  Gen. Townsend said at the time that the Wagner mercenaries are not the Russian military.  “These are mercenaries that happen to be from Russia,” he stated.  However, reports have indicated they are  supported by the Russian military.

U.S. Africa Command – full testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 16, 2023

“Our entire team [at USAFRICOM] is laser focused on the implementing our whole of government approach with our partners from the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, the intelligence community, and other U.S. government organizations. We campaign with our allies and partners to advance mutual interests and to promote stability and prosperity on the African continent.”

-Langley told the Senate Committee Mar. 16, 2023. 

Gen. Langley says he is looking to help African nations find African solutions.  In August 2022, the new AFRICOM commander hit the ground running  making his first visit to Africa since taking over.  Langley visited Djibouti, Somalia, and Manda Bay, Kenya. 

“Terrorism, poverty, food insecurity, climate change, and mass migration shatter African lives and sow the seeds of violent extremism and Russian exploitation. Solutions to these colossal problems must be a shared burden and African nations need to be at the helm of a concerted international effort to produce sustainable results, sustainable outcomes,”  Langley said, during his Senate testimony 

U.S.  AFRICOM Commander meets with Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud  with Amb. Larry André, U.S. Embassy in Somalia on Aug. 29, 2022 (Credit: africom.mil)

In a recent interview,  Langley said the nations of the African continent do have one big commonality – in that they prefer to solve African problems with African solutions, the general stated.