Cameroon, South Africa, Tanzania among African countries drawn into Russia’s Ukraine war

Cameroon, South Africa and Tanzania are among African countries whose nationals have been drawn into Russia’s war against Ukraine, with at least 104 Cameroonians confirmed dead and recruitment networks linked to serving soldiers, a sitting South African lawmaker and prisoners, an investigation by Journalists for Justice (JFJ) has found.

The investigation, titled ‘Death Contracts: How Russia Recruits Africans to Fight and Die in Ukraine,’ documented 372 Cameroonian recruits, 69 South Africans and cases involving Tanzanian and Somali nationals who joined Russia’s armed forces.

The report, published by ‘Stop Russian Recruiters’ on October 9, 2026, identified at least 3,066 African nationals from 40 countries who enlisted in Russia’s military between October 2022 and June 2026.

Of the recruits documented across the continent, 502 had been confirmed dead by the end of June 2026, while the whereabouts of more than 2,500 remained unconfirmed.

The investigation, based on interviews with prisoners of war, serving recruits, returnees and families of dead and missing fighters, found that recruitment methods varied across countries, with some networks targeting civilians through promises of employment while others drew in serving military personnel and prisoners.

In Cameroon, the report found that recruitment substantially involved active-duty soldiers who deserted their country's military to enlist with Russian forces.

The investigation documented 372 individual contract records between September 2023 and December 2025, with recruitment reaching a peak of 36 men in January 2025.

At least 104 Cameroonian deaths were recorded in Ukrainian data, compared with 16 publicly acknowledged by the Cameroonian government in April 2026.

The report attributed the recruitment partly to the financial incentives offered by Russia. It said a Cameroonian second-class private earned approximately US$85 (Ksh.11,027)  monthly after two years of service, compared with Russian offers of a US$2,000 (Ksh.259, 460) signing bonus, a monthly salary of at least US$2,000 and promised Russian citizenship.

Cameroon’s Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo issued a classified directive in March 2025 prohibiting uniformed personnel from travelling abroad without authorisation.

South African MP linked to recruitment

In South Africa, the investigation identified 69 recruits and documented a case involving Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, then a Member of Parliament for the MK Party and daughter of former President Jacob Zuma.

According to JFJ, Zuma-Sambudla personally accompanied 22 recruits, including two Botswana nationals, to Russia in July 2025.

Days after their arrival, 17 members of the group were reportedly made to sign infantry contracts written in Russian before being deployed to Donetsk.

Zuma-Sambudla resigned from Parliament in November 2025 after her sister filed a criminal case against her. South Africa’s Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation subsequently opened a formal inquiry, with five people charged under the country’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.

The report described the case as the only documented instance in its investigation of direct recruitment facilitation by an elected official.

South Africa’s government has publicly thanked Russia for returning some of its nationals, a response the investigation criticised for framing their return as a favour rather than an obligation.

Tanzania and Zambia recorded early deaths

The investigation traced some of the earliest documented deaths of African nationals fighting for Russia to Tanzania and Zambia, with both cases involving prisoners recruited while serving sentences in Russia.

Nemes Tarimo, a 33-year-old Tanzanian student, enlisted from prison and was killed near Bakhmut two months later.

Tanzania’s government publicly confirmed Tarimo’s death and reminded citizens that the country’s laws prohibit enlistment in foreign militaries.

Lemekhani Nyirenda, a 23-year-old Zambian nuclear-engineering student imprisoned in Russia, was recruited by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, pardoned in August 2022 and killed near Bakhmut a month later.

JFJ described the two cases as an early recruitment pattern in which prisoners were enlisted and subsequently sent to the front lines.

Somali recruits promised Russian citizenship

The investigation also documented recruitment involving Somali nationals, including Adil Abdullahi Ahmed Mohammed, who travelled to Moscow independently before being recruited off the street.

According to the report, Mohammed was attracted by the promise of Russian citizenship, which offered an alternative to the limitations associated with holding a Somali passport.

The case formed part of the investigation’s broader findings that recruiters used different incentives to attract Africans, including employment opportunities, financial rewards and the prospect of obtaining Russian citizenship.

The report also identified Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin among countries where recruitment networks were expanding.

JFJ said the networks had continued shifting towards countries where public awareness was lower and political scrutiny less intense.

Governments face accountability questions

The investigation found that, as of its publication, no African government had completed a prisoner exchange, established a repatriation fund or prosecuted an official for facilitating recruitment into Russia’s armed forces.

The African Union had also not issued a resolution addressing the recruitment of African nationals into the conflict, despite more than 3,000 citizens from the continent being identified in Russian military service.

The report said Russia had not published a comprehensive account of foreign nationals enlisted in its military, making it difficult to establish the full scale of recruitment and casualties.

It called attention to the risks facing Africans seeking employment abroad and the need to establish the whereabouts of missing recruits, assist families of those killed or detained and address the networks facilitating recruitment.

The findings come amid continued scrutiny of recruitment practices that allegedly mislead foreign nationals about the nature of work in Russia before directing them into military service in Ukraine.