The private military and security companies (PMSCs) sector has grown considerably in recent decades, particularly in Africa. The rise of security challenges on the continent, such as increased terrorist threats, inter-community conflicts, civil wars, and insurrectionary conflicts, along with some governments’ difficulties in addressing them, have led to greater reliance on PMSCs. Both local and foreign companies operate in this sector, undertaking tasks like protecting nationals and supporting the operations of local armed forces. Russian and Chinese companies are among the most active in Africa. Since the 2000s, China and Russia have emerged as significant players in international security and have subsequently expanded their presence on the continent, notably through PMSCs.
The expansion of Chinese PMSCs in Africa has primarily been driven by the need to ensure the safety of over a million Chinese nationals on the continent and to protect China’s economic interests. As Africa’s leading trade partner, China registered a trade volume of 282 billion dollars in 2022. For instance, a company like Frontier Services Group (FSG) claimed in 2019 that Africa was its most important source of revenueAude Thomas, Vincent Tourret, Philippe Gros, “Les entreprises de services de sécurité et de défense : nouvelles dynamiques et implications pour nos armées”, Observatoire des conflits futurs, Fondation pour la recherche stratégique, May 2021.. As for Russian PMSCs, the African market has so far been dominated by the paramilitary group Wagner, which has established itself as the main tool for expanding Russian influence, notably by providing security for certain regimes, for example in the Central African Republic and Mali, and by participating in information manipulation campaigns.
Initially dominated by Anglo-Saxon actors focused on economic rationality, the private military and security company sector has been redefined in recent years by Russian and Chinese practices, which are characterized by influence strategies. Although both China and Russia use PMSCs as tools to advance their respective interests in Africa, the two countries follow divergent approaches in terms of institutional and legal frameworks, strategies, fields of activities, operational modes, etc. In a context of intense strategic competition between major powers, an analysis of Russian and Chinese PMSCs is more necessary than ever, in order to better identify the strategies at play and to deduce strategic implications for French and European armed forces.
This research is all the more important as the existing literature on this subject is often focused on the Wagner paramilitary group and a handful of Chinese private security companies. Apart from the excellent book by Alessandro Arduino published in 2023Alessandro Arduino, Money for Mayhem: Mercenaries, Private Military Companies, Drones, and the Future of War, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2023. Russia and Chinese private military and security companies in Africa: two competing models? P.2, few precise comparative studies have concentrated on Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, despite the magnitude of strategic and security issues on the continent.
Thus, after presenting each model in the first two parts of this paper (historical and legal frameworks, strategies and links with power structures, ongoing changes), the third part will compare the two models, focusing on the relationships between the private security markets of the two countries. Currently, the differences between Russian and Chinese PMSCs make them complementary, leading to emerging forms of Sino-Russian cooperation in the sector. However, given the extent of Chinese economic interests on the continent and Beijing’s proficiency in hybrid modes of action, it is possible that the Chinese private security market may eventually compete with the Russian one.