Malawi is gonna call out Russia at a big Africa meeting in Cairo over its citizens being stuck in a drone factory. The country's Foreign Minister George Chaponda says he'll raise the issue at the Russia-Africa forum after pressure from local rights groups. Reports say at least four Malawian women were lured by promises of school or jobs, only to get trapped at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, a military site making drones for the war in Ukraine. Other African nations like Kenya and South Africa are also investigating similar stuff.
This Alabuga scheme specifically targets young women online, offering fake work-study programs before taking their passports and forcing them into factory work. The whole mess puts Malawi in an awkward spot, since they still do business with Russia but also voted against it at the UN. The government is being told to set up safer labor export deals, like the one they have with Israel, to stop this from happening again.
Rights activists back home are demanding answers on how these citizens wound up in a warzone facility. The situation follows other incidents where African men were recruited by Russian groups like the Wagner mercenaries, only to die fighting in Ukraine.
This Alabuga scheme specifically targets young women online, offering fake work-study programs before taking their passports and forcing them into factory work. The whole mess puts Malawi in an awkward spot, since they still do business with Russia but also voted against it at the UN. The government is being told to set up safer labor export deals, like the one they have with Israel, to stop this from happening again.
Rights activists back home are demanding answers on how these citizens wound up in a warzone facility. The situation follows other incidents where African men were recruited by Russian groups like the Wagner mercenaries, only to die fighting in Ukraine.
