Reuters
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The South African government announced Thursday that it will investigate how 17 nationals who sent a distress call asking for help to return home during the Russia-Ukraine conflict ended up joining a mercenary force.
A statement released by the South African President’s Office said the men were lured into the fight on the pretext of lucrative employment contracts. The newspaper said they were all between 20 and 39 years old and were trapped in Ukraine’s Donbas region, adding that the government was working to bring them home.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into these seemingly mercenary activities,” it said in a statement.
The president’s statement did not specify which side the men were fighting on, and presidential spokesperson Vincent Mugwenya said: “We don’t know yet and we will investigate.”
Most of Ukraine’s Donbas region, where the 17 people are believed to be trapped, is under Russian military control, and the Russian government has been accused in the past of recruiting citizens from developing countries to fight on their behalf under false pretenses.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was investigating the reports. The Russian embassy in South Africa did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
South Africa has sought to project itself as non-aligned when it comes to war, while maintaining warm relations with Moscow as a member of the BRICS group of emerging economies. Prime Minister Ramaphosa met with leaders of both countries.
Under South African law, it is illegal for citizens to provide military aid to a foreign government or join a foreign military without South African permission.
Kenya announced last month that some of its citizens had been unknowingly drawn into the conflict and detained in military camps across Russia.
“Agents pretending to be collaborating with the Russian government are using unscrupulous methods, including false information, to lure innocent Kenyans into the battlefield,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement on October 27.
Countries such as India, Nepal and Sri Lanka have said that large numbers of their nationals have been drafted into Russia’s war effort under false pretenses.
In August, the South African government warned young people to be wary of fake job offers in Russia circulating on social media after reports that some South African women were tricked into building drones.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said in a May report that women from more than 20 African countries were recruited under false pretenses to build Russian war drones.
