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South Africa’s government says it has received distress calls from 17 citizens who have joined mercenary forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n
The men are between the ages of 20 and 39 years and are trapped in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region.<\/p>\n
President Cyril Ramaphosa has “ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into these seemingly mercenary activities,” a government spokesman said. The statement did not say which side of the conflict the South Africans were fighting for.<\/p>\n
Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government is illegal in South Africa, unless the government authorises it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The men were lured to join the mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative contracts, the government said. <\/p>\n
Spokesman Vincent Magwenya added the South African government is working through “diplomatic channels” to secure their return.<\/p>\n
Magwenya said 16 of the men were from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n
“President Ramaphosa and the South African government strongly condemn the exploitation of young vulnerable people by individuals working with foreign military entities,” he added. <\/p>\n
South Africa has an unemployment rate of more than 30%, and is even higher among young people, making them vulnerable for recruitment, analysts say. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The BBC has found evidence to suggest the Kremlin is working to expand<\/a> its sphere of influence in Africa.<\/p>\n Africa Corps, a Russian mercenary group controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defence, has effectively replaced the rival military group Wagner in West Africa, after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.<\/a><\/p>\n In August, the South African government issued a warning to young women not to fall for social media recruitment opportunities promoting jobs abroad, particularly in Russia.<\/p>\n A BBC investigation<\/a> found young women had been taken to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia to work in a drones factory. <\/p>\n It is estimated more than 1,000 women have been recruited from across Africa and South Asia to work in Alabuga’s weapons factories. <\/p>\n In September, Kenyan police said they had rescued more than 20 people from a suspected trafficking ring that had lured them with job offers in Russia but intended to send them to fight in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Ukraine has previously said that it was holding citizens of various countries – Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka – at prisoner-of-war camps.<\/p>\n