A few days ago, in Dakar, a conference was held on fact-checking organized by African journalists and activists grouped around a platform called FACT’AFRICA. “Information in the age of social networks”; this was the theme which saw the participation of young people from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Chad and Senegal. An opportunity for journalists, bloggers and influencers to understand the disinformation system put in place by certain state and non-state actors keen to gain ground on the African continent.
If in official speeches, the repeated ambition relates to cooperation in security, in the background, powers use all means to influence the political class, civil society and populations to the point of representing a major threat for African democracy. Indeed, fake news spread like disinformation campaigns, sometimes against Western powers for example, have become poison for African democracies.
An example often comes up when it comes to fake news; These are pharmacies linked to the Kremlin such as African initiative, close to the networks of the late oligarch Evgueni Prigogine. This agency, which presents itself as an independent body, carries out various disinformation activities on African soil. Recently a consortium of journalists around the organization Forbidden Stories documented a system of manipulation in the Central African Republic and the Sahel. The data analyzed all lead to the same observation: Africa is a playground for disinformation and the propagation of false news, thus posing serious risks to democratic achievements on the African continent.
According to a report published in March 2024 by the Center for Strategic Studies for Africa (CESA), the former USSR is responsible for 80 disinformation campaigns on the continent since 2022. This figure represents almost 42% of the total of 189 counted and makes the country the main provider of disinformation campaigns ahead of China and the United Arab Emirates.
“These 80 campaigns reached several million users thanks to fake pages and coordinated messages.
What is the desired objective?
“The strategy of disinformation amounts to undermining democracy in at least 19 African countries, thus contributing to the continent’s decline on this front,” indicates the CESA.
Although the number of campaigns is large, the objective is the same. Massively propagate, on the one hand, content that boasts of the Kremlin’s commitment to African countries via the presence of Africa Corps mercenaries. On the other, denigrate France for its “neocolonialism” which would still allow the country to continue to plunder African resources, the USA for its “imperialism” as well as institutions like the European Union and the United Nations.
The Sahel, a privileged laboratory for Russian disinformation
Of all the regions of Africa, the Sahel is the favorite playground of disinformation agencies with a view to advancing their pawns in the fight for influence. The coming to power of juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and then Niger provided grist for the mill of the disinformation machine. At the same time, the repression of dissident voices by the juntas has led to a sharp deterioration in the working conditions of journalists and the media.
This situation was also documented by the collective of investigative journalists Forbidden Stories and its 10 international partners.
-As part of its investigation, the organization also reveals the means implemented by Moscow to exploit the media and manipulate public opinions in the region.
These include advantages such as trips to Russia for opinion leaders, training sessions for journalists or the organization of cultural days in AES countries such as in Mali last August. The Kremlin also relies on various organizations such as the AfricanInitiative founded in September 2023 as part of its search for influence.
“Its objective is to allow Moscow, through its intelligence services and their agents of influence, to regain control of the propaganda apparatus built by Yevgeny Prigogine. If the Russian offensive on the African continent began with clandestine activities, operations are now assumed and centralized,” indicates Forbidden Stories.
Among the most egregious cases of Russian disinformation in AES countries is the disclosure in April 2022 of a video showing bodies buried under the sand of Gossi in Mali with a man pointing to the mass grave as ” the work” of Barkhane. The reality is that the French army had barely handed over the Gossiaux camp to Malian military forces and that the victims were the result of an operation carried out in Hombori jointly by the Malian army and Russian mercenaries during the same month.
More generally, the network of journalists indicates that the methods deployed in the Sahel are identical to those deployed in 2018 upon the arrival of mercenaries from the Wagner group in the Central African Republic.
A threat to democratic stability
On the continent, the propaganda and disinformation deployed by Russia pose a major risk to the functioning of the press in the Sahel region. The atmosphere of terror created on the ground and on social networks is increasingly stifling dissident voices and limiting the work of independent journalists who now fear for their lives.
In such a context, democracy and fundamental freedoms are threatened. It is therefore necessary, even vital, for African countries to put the fight against disinformation in all its forms and whatever its origin at the heart of their strategies.
Mamadou Cissé Journalist
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