This reporting for Granta will explore how great-power competition for resources and influence has impacted Africa, and how local African responses to this system are shaping a rapid geopolitical shift. Starting in the Central African Republic, where the power of the Wagner Group and Russia now reaches through every aspect of the country's mining system, it will explore the anger and post-colonial disillusionment that has lead many in the country, and across the continent, to look towards Russia as a new strategic partner.
Including vivid reporting from Mali, Mauritania, and across the region, this project will offer a rare look at how raw materials and environmental realities are shaping the future of the world's fastest-growing continent.
