They are all in the Sahel region. The Sahara is expanding into them as the climate changes.

the Wagner group is active across this region, typically hired by juntas that displace the western-allied governments and pay the Wagner group for security by granting Wagner control over some resource extraction

I’ll take a wild guess and say “russias Wagner mercenary troop is active there”

Edit: Im not joking, they immediately flew the russian flag after the coup was successful