BANGUI, Central African Republic -- Like many Africans seeking better fortunes abroad, Derrick Ngamana set his sights on university studies in Russia. But strapped for cash, he instead enlisted in Russia's all-out war against Ukraine this past fall.
Within months of the decision, his brother Diogene received a text in Russian: "Hello, Derrick is dead."
"I didn't believe Derick had fallen in battle, and I was broken…not just me, but the family," Diogene told RFE/RL from the capital of Central African Republic (CAR), adding that his brother, who was 32, had two children.
Ngamana was among the thousands of foreign fighters Russia has deployed against Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia has also brought in contingents of North Korean soldiers, some of whom Kyiv says are providing “useful” intelligence after their capture.
With hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers having been killed or wounded in the Kremlin's war on Ukraine, Moscow has also bolstered its forces with fighters from Africa, where the notorious Russian state-backed mercenary group Wagner has helped bolster the Kremlin's influence on the continent.
Some of these Africans have reportedly signed up under threats of deportation or been recruited after landing in Russian prisons. Others were simply seeking a paycheck.
Ngamana's family now finds itself in a Kafkaesque struggle to recover his remains from Russia, encountering bureaucratic roadblocks in Bangui and Moscow.
"We are in a fog," Diogene told RFE/RL.
The family, meanwhile, is trying to provide for his children.
"By the grace of God, I think they can survive," Diogene said.
Killed In Kursk
There is no official information on how many Africans have been killed fighting for Russia, which the Ukrainian military said last year had stepped up recruitment on the continent for the Kremlin's "cannon fodder" -- primarily from Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and Uganda.
Kyiv said these mercenaries are promised a $2,000 signing bonus followed by a monthly salary of $2,200, plus medical insurance and Russian passports for the fighter and his family members.
RFE/RL independently verified that Derrick Ngamana had previously served as a corporal with the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), which have received training from Wagner mercenaries. The possible role of the Russian military group in Ngamana's recruitment is unclear.
Diogene says his younger brother left for Russia in September after being recruited for Moscow's war. Derrick, he said, told him he was leaving to try to get his "children out" and provide a "better future" for them.
It was on November 26, Diogene said, that he received the text message in Russian, which he was unable to read. He says he passed it along to a family friend, Loic Ouangapou, who works as a diplomat at the CAR Embassy in Moscow. It was Ouangapou, Diogene said, who confirmed to him two weeks later that Derrick had been killed.
"He called me to say that the message said this: 'Hello, Derrick is dead,'" Diogene recalled.
Ouangapou brought the family the documentation required for further procedures linked to Derrick's death, but the documents were in Russian, Diogene said.
"I told him we didn't understand. He would have to explain it to us. He got angry and left all the papers at home with me and he left," Diogene recalled.
The documents, which RFE/RL reviewed, state that Ngamana was killed on November 15 in the village Novoivanovka in Russia's western Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces captured large swaths of territory in the largest incursion on to Russian territory since World War II.
It is the first confirmed case of a CAR mercenary killed in Kursk-region fighting since Ukraine's incursion in August.
The records state that Ngamana was killed fighting for military unit 30926, which is part of the Russian Pacific Fleet's 155th Marine Brigade. That brigade has suffered significant losses in Russia's war on Ukraine.
A source familiar with the unit's command confirmed to RFE/RL Ngamana's death in the Kursk region. Asked if many of Ngamana's fellow citizens are serving on the Russian side, the source replied that he "does not know the exact number" but thinks "there are plenty."
Among the documents obtained by Ngamana's family is one that requests compensation for the family from the Russian government due to his death.
'He Still Remains Central African'
Diogene told RFE/RL that he reached out to the Russian Embassy in Bangui, which directed him to the CAR Embassy in Russia. There, he said, he was told that the family needs to authorize the embassy to liaise with the Russian Defense Ministry on the matter.
"Since then I have no news," Diogene said.
In an effort to obtain more details, Diogene said he reached out to the CAR general staff but was told they could not help since his brother had left the country's armed forces.
In a December 30 statement, a spokesman for the CAR government, Maxime Balalu, called Derrick Ngamana an "adventurer" and said his actions were taken at his own risk.
"What does the state have to do with this?" he told reporters at a news conference in Bangui.
Diogene says he is concerned over what he sees as a lack of interest in the case.
"He is a Central African, and even if he left on his own, he still remains Central African," Diogene said of his brother.
In a December 14 Facebook post, Ouangapou -- the family friend and CAR diplomat in Moscow -- said Ngamana had contacted him in 2023 to help him enroll in a Russian university but did not have enough money to pay the necessary fees.
Ouangapou wrote that in July 2024, Ngamana informed Ouangapou that he had found another way to come to Russia: as a tourist.
"Derrick chose to go down that path by volunteering with the Russian armed forces, a decision that was entirely his own," the diplomat wrote.
Ouangapou did not respond to RFE/RL's written request for comment, nor did the CAR Embassy in Moscow or the Russian Embassy in Bangui.
