The US has warned of this Russian mercenaries planned to kill them Chad President and three of his senior staff.

What happened: The sprawling desert nation of Chad is the latest flashpoint amid the refueling tension between Russia and the West in Africa.

Washington has issued a warning that Chadian rebels gathering in nearby Central African countries are being backed by the Russian president Wladimir Putin.

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A US official on condition of anonymity told The New York Times that the assassination plot in Chad represents “a new chapter” in the efforts of those close to Putin Wagner group advance Moscow’s interests in Africa.

At the same time, Moscow has been lobbying Chad’s ruling elite, including ministers and a half-brother of the president, the report added.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anton Blinken warned during a visit to Niger last week: “Wherever Wagner was present, bad things inevitably happened.”

Blinken’s visit to the Sahel was the fourth visit to Africa by a senior US figure this year Washington watches as it strengthens its ties with the continent. The US leader has also pledged $150 million in aid to the Sahel.

In September last year MackySal, the head of the African Union, had told the UN General Assembly that “Africa has suffered enough from the burden of history”.

“It doesn’t want to be the breeding ground for a new Cold War,” he added.

Russia – Africa’s largest arms supplier – has ties dating back to Soviet times. However, in recent years Putin’s Wagner mercenaries – including men from Russia, Syria, Serbia and Lebanon – have surfaced in some of Africa’s most turbulent corners.

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