Jean Claude Sangwa took up arms in Luhansk – and his pro-Moscow views are mainstream in much of Africa
Jean Claude Sangwa: ‘I joined because the war came to our republic.
Shortly after joining the Luhansk militia, Sangwa was sent into combat and spent two months fighting. During that time, many of his African friends assumed that he was dead and posted goodbye messages on his social media accounts. There is no evidence that apart from Sangwa and his two friends, more African soldiers have been sent to Ukraine. But while Sangwa’s story is unusual, his pro-Moscow sentiments and opinions about who is responsible for the war are mainstream in large parts of Africa.
“Many on the African continent now believe the conflict is driven by Nato expansion, by reckless western policies,” Stronski said. Similarly, a leader of the Nigerian community in Moscow told the Guardian that most Nigerians there were sympathetic to Russia. “The issue is complicated, but the west pushed Russia to do this,” he said.Photograph: Carol Valade/AFP/Getty Images
On Friday, during a meeting with Putin in Sochi, Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, the current chair of the, blamed EU sanctions on Russian banks and products for worsening the problem, and steered away from criticising Russia’s actions, including its blockade of Ukrainian ports.
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