The Cameroonian government has officially confirmed the death of 16 of its citizens fighting on the side of the russian federation. The BBC reports this.
This was the first time that the country's authorities have acknowledged the participation of their residents in the conflict after a long silence that has caused sharp criticism within society. The information became public after the leak of a diplomatic note from the Cameroonian Foreign Ministry to the russian embassy, the authenticity of which was later confirmed by sources in the foreign ministry.
The document cautiously calls the deceased "military contractors", although independent investigators cite much larger figures.
In particular, the organization All Eyes on Wagner, which monitors the activities of mercenaries, claims that at least 94 Cameroonians were killed on the front in Ukraine between 2023 and 2025. Ukrainian intelligence, in turn, estimates the total number of Africans recruited by russia at more than 1,700 people from 36 countries on the continent.
The recruitment situation is also causing serious concern in other African states that are trying to stop the flow of their citizens to the war.
"At least 55 Ghanaians were killed during the war," Ghanaian representatives say, calling on Moscow to stop recruiting combatants.
Similar problems are faced by Kenya, where more than 600 suspicious recruitment agencies have been closed, and Zimbabwe, where dozens of citizens still remain stranded directly on the front line. In Cameroon itself, the Ministry of Defense has already appealed to officers with a demand to strengthen supervision of units in order to prevent the departure of professional soldiers to participate in hostilities in Ukraine.
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