US Warns Putin-Linked Mercenary Group Planning To Kill Chad President Amid Africa's Fear Of 'Cold War'

The U.S. has warned that Russian mercenaries were plotting to kill the Chad president and three of his senior aides. 

What Happened: The sprawling desert nation Chad is the latest flashpoint amid fueling tension between Russia and the West in Africa.

Washington has issued a warning that Chadian rebels amassing in nearby Central African nations are receiving support from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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A U.S. official on the condition of anonymity told The New York Times that the assassination plot in Chad represented "a new chapter" in efforts by the Putin-linked Wagner Group to advance Moscow's interests in Africa.

While Moscow, at the same time, has been lobbying Chad's ruling elite, including the ministers and a half-brother of the president, the report added.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned during a visit to Niger last week, "Where Wagner has been present, bad things have inevitably followed."

Blinken's visit to the Sahel region was the fourth to Africa by a senior U.S. figure this year as Washington eyes ramping up its ties with the continent. The U.S. leader has also pledged $150 million in aid to the Sahel.

In September last year, Macky Sall, the African Union chairman, had told the U.N. General Assembly that "Africa has suffered enough from the burden of history."

"It does not want to be the breeding ground of a new Cold War," he added.

Russia — the largest arms supplier to Africa — has ties going back to the Soviet era. However, in recent years, Putin's Wagner mercenaries — including men from Russia, Syria, Serbia and Lebanon — have begun to appear in some of Africa's most turbulent corners.

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