A leak from the Russian group s propaganda arm reveals payments for videos by West African bloggers and influencers on social media platforms, The Wagner Group has been paying West African social and digital media influencers and broadcasters for videos and blogs attacking France and supporting Russian narratives on the Ukraine war, according to documents leaked by a disgruntled former group employee to Africa Confidential.
Efforts to coup-proof the regime include suppressing army officer networks and media organisations and banning references to military coups, President Paul Biya has taken further steps to save his regime from the fate that befell Gabon s President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba, ousted by a military coup on 30 August.
African and western states are putting little pressure on the junta as it announces it will be in power for at least two years, A month after General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema and his allies seized power in the wake of the disputed elections, the new regime is stepping up its diplomatic and business outreach as it launches investigations and audits of President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba s government and family.
The nonagenarian President has been shaken by the coup against his Gabonese counterpart, whose relationship to the military was similar to his own, President Paul Biya has shuffled military posts and reorganised defence ministry departments to forestall any attempt by the army to take power. Whether he has done enough to avoid the fate of his southern neighbour, President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba, remains to be seen. Whether Biya, a master-manipulator of his security forces for decades, will succeed this time is the dominant question in the country.