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    Russian disinformation campaigns – propaganda in Africa

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    In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of propaganda campaigns initiated by Russia. One of the most important directions covered by disinformation activities was Africa. Initially, the Russians focused on delicately controlling the public mood or conducting operations to properly shape the views of the public.

    Over time, the Kremlin replaced the white gloves with a hammer. A period of open lobbying – based in many cases on anti-colonial and anti-French slogans – had begun for direct Russian interventions in countries targeted by Russian trolls.

    Target profile

    For the Kremlin, it is crucial to correctly identify a country in which a disinformation campaign can be carried out. Countries with a low level of political stability are becoming the main targets. Contrary to the policies pursued in Europe, Russians in Africa choose carefully the conflicts in which they engage, with good estimates of where it will be possible to strike at least cost for greatest effect.

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    Practice has shown that the Russians are most successful in countries which, for some reason, have fallen into partial political isolation. A prime example is Mali, where a military coup led to a turning away from Bamako’s ECOWAS partners, and the hiring of Russian mercenaries cut the country off from French support. In such an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty, Kremlin propaganda feels best.

    Russians are well versed in the moods of both societies and the African elite. Propaganda successfully plays both, controlling not only what is happening in political offices, but also on the streets. There is a noticeable high intensity of activities in the countries of the so-called Françafrique – countries that used to be part of the French colonial empire. In such a case, it is common to rely on anti-colonial rhetoric, having decades of tradition, and traces of traces resembling the propaganda operations used by the Soviet Union. Apart from Mali, the Kremlin’s successes in the Central African Republic are excellent proof of the above thesis.

    Anti-Frenchness, and “Rescue from the East”

    When operating in Africa, Russians often rely on existing public sentiments, skillfully stoking those that could lead to unrest. The most visible is the anti-French sentiment in many countries of the continent. Mali again is an example to illustrate the successful use of these assumptions.

    Although it was at Bamako’s request that Paris engaged in the civil war, for many Malians it was another colonial intervention in the internal affairs of their homeland. This leads to paradoxes in which the French are accused of both neo-imperial policies and insufficient involvement in protecting civilians under attack by militants. The Kremlin uses such contradictions to build a pro-Russian narrative according to which the inept West is to be replaced by the heroic Russians. They will not only come to their mate’s help, but will also do it faster and more effectively. This is the argument used in campaigns in the most unstable countries in West Africa – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

    A similar narrative may seem easy to disprove. It does not even take too long to analyze it to see that the proposed solution would amount to the exchange of some Europeans for another, even under the flag of the same colors. The answer most often used by profiles that spread Kremlin propaganda is, however, referring to the situation in the Central African Republic.

    In 2020, the combined forces of Russia and Rwanda repelled the attack on the country’s capital, once again saving the government from collapse. This event has been repeatedly presented as an example of the fact that Moscow, unlike Western Europe, is fighting hand in hand with the Africans for the good and stability of the continent. It is completely overlooked that for Russians, the Central African Republic is a country in which, thanks to little military involvement and irregular forces, they gained a political position allowing access to rich natural resources and extremely lucrative mining contracts.

    Controlling the elites

    In addition to promoting Russia’s direct interests in a given country, campaigns sometimes focus on selected representatives of the political elite. One of the most interesting and earliest examples is the activities in Libya. Kremlin propaganda did not support one party, but tried to play several participants in the conflict against each other. At the same time, it supported General Khalifa Haftar and released materials promoting Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi – the only living son of the Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. In the realities of the civil war, this may be translated as an attempt to diversify support in the absence of a clear advantage of one of the parties, but elite control also takes place in countries where election campaigns are taking place.

    In 2019, journalists from the South African daily Daily Maverick reported the discovery of a large-scale Russian disinformation campaign targeting South Africa. It was intended to discredit opposition politicians and promote the ruling African National Congress. The Russians, however, overestimated the potential and the campaign did not bring the expected results.

    The activities of the Internet Research Agency, which is the propaganda arm of Yevgeny Prigozhin, in Sudan brought much better results. By promoting Russian interests, building a narrative of fraternal relations between the two countries and presenting Moscow as Khartoum’s closest non-African ally, the Kremlin retained its influence in the country even after the fall of Umar al-Bashir. Fake social media profiles duplicated material praising Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok while attempting to discredit his opponents, especially by portraying them as Western puppets. Once again, this is a tactic inherited from the propaganda machine of the Soviet Union.

    Street control

    Kremlin propaganda can make perfect use of public sentiment if it can be used to achieve long-term political goals. In Mali (again), with the help of local activist groups, pro-Russian demonstrations were organized in Bamako. One of the most interesting aspects was the appearance of posters with the image of Richard Wagner. It was an obvious reference to the notorious Wagnerists who were to be hired to stabilize the country.

    Similar demonstrations, during which pro-Russian slogans were raised, broke out in Bangui, where participants thanked Moscow for the government’s support in the fight against the rebels. Social media, which for years has remained passive to the developing propaganda machine, are commonly used to mobilize the society from below. The fight against suspicious profiles was made difficult by the fact that many of them did not duplicate false information, but were focused on presenting allegedly mass support for a specific party or idea.

    A good example of a positive campaign was the media offensive during the 2019 presidential elections in Mozambique. Then there was a flood of entries supporting Philip Nyusi, one of Russia’s closest political allies in South Africa.

    Years of free action by Russian trolls forced social media companies to finally respond. A campaign to clean the platforms from suspicious content has been launched. Of course, this met with resistance from people and bots accusing the administration of silencing African voices, racism and imperialism. This is a typical set of accusations whenever attempts are made to stem the expansion of the Russian propaganda machine against Africa.

    Anti-Ukrainian propaganda in Africa

    The last front in the media war Russia is waging with the West is the invasion of Ukraine. The topic has been researched many times, including by CASM Technology analysts, and the results indicated the existence of well-organized and managed clusters of accounts dedicated to spreading Kremlin propaganda.

    The most important was a group of bots targeting South African users. The most active accounts, impersonating the citizens of Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, were most active right after the session of the UN General Assembly, where the issue of the Russian invasion was raised. The group influencing the narrative in the Nigerian media remained equally active.

    It is worth noting that the campaigns were aimed almost exclusively at English-speaking societies, and not, as might be expected from Russians’ activity in Africa, the Francophone Sahel. At the same time, there was an avalanche increase in the activity of accounts directing pro-Russian messages to India and Pakistan. The message was based on patterns known from previous disinformation operations: low-quality memes, duplicating the image of the super-male Vladimir Putin, anti-Westernism, presenting Ukraine as a US puppet and, of course, accusations of racism.

    The most spectacular propaganda operation related to duplicating anti-Ukrainian propaganda took place in Nigerian social media. Hackers gained access to more than 1,500 user accounts, from which they then sent out propaganda material. The main impact was on Twitter users, which were repeatedly used by Russian trolls to spread disinformation.

    See also: Greece wants Germany to stop building Reis submarines for Turkey

    Harland Quarrington, Open Government License 1.0

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