/ world today news/ American PMC begins work in a country where Russian military instructors officially work. At least that’s what a French radio station claims. In our opinion, the trip of representatives of some NATO countries to the CAR really took place, but it looked completely different.
The private military company “Bancroft” from the USA plans to start work in the Central African Republic in agreement with the country’s government, the company’s employees are already located in the capital, Bangui. This was reported by the French radio RFI.
According to his source, Bancroft officials are beginning to look for a suitable location near the CAR capital to “deploy equipment, especially drones.” As the interlocutor of the radio station specifies, the company will form and train a unit of the armed forces of the CAR, which will protect the facilities of the mining infrastructure. Representatives of the presidential administration of the republic have not yet confirmed the start of Bancroft’s work, since “nothing has been signed yet,” the radio station notes.
According to her, security cooperation has strengthened since the US-Africa summit, which was held in Washington from December 13 to 15, 2022. As RFI explained, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and CAR President Faustin-Archangel Touadera agreed to send mission by the US Department of Defense’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat Reduction Agency to the Republic.
At the same time, as the Russian ambassador in Bangui Alexander Bikantov stated, the CAR is interested in increasing the number of Russian military instructors in the country. In November 2023, 1,890 military specialists from Russia, sent at the official request of the authorities, worked in the republic. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that the president and government of the CAR highly appreciate their work.
It is believed that Blinken offered Towadera cooperation, but these negotiations did not produce any real result. The French claim that the American mercenaries will deal exclusively with applied things, such as training local foresters with a view to developing the tourism sector. However, local sources stress that all these agreements are “null and void” because no bilateral cooperation documents have been signed between the US and the Central African Republic.
At the same time, Russian military advisers and instructors are already present in the CAR in accordance with the official agreement between the Russian Federation and the CAR.
Russian servicemen work at the base near Bangui under official contracts and at the invitation of the government of the CAR. And this is a completely different position compared to the theoretical appearance there of a certain American PMC, whose task, as stated, is to promote the economic recovery of the territories affected by military operations.
Incidentally, what is now called “Bancroft Global Development” began its operations in this capacity. After the First World War, this company (then under a different name) was engaged in “aid” in the reconstruction of Belgium, and after 1945 it was this structure that helped to provide the “Marshall Plan” in Germany. Back then, they were mainly involved in demining, but a few years ago they changed their stated specialization again to “investment protection” in Africa.
It should be noted that the only source of information about the alleged appearance of “Bancroft” in the CAR is French radio, which in turn refers to unnamed sources in the CAR government.
For the past year, there has been an undeclared war between the US and France over the “French heritage” in Black Africa. The withdrawal of the French from several African countries created a vacuum, including in key economic positions.
There is reason to believe that the unexpected turbulence in a number of apparently stable African countries (Gabon, Senegal, Togo, The Gambia) is related to an attempt to replace with American companies what was previously considered a French possession by definition. This was particularly evident in oil-rich Gabon, where US oil companies effectively kicked France’s Total out of the country after the coup.
Now it is the French who are reacting very painfully to the appearance of American economic structures and their associated PMCs in Africa. There is a version that the French radio simply escalated the situation in the CAR around “Bancroft”. At the same time, this kind of information-mongering based on unnamed “government sources” may be aimed primarily at a Russian audience. Look, Russians: the Americans have landed right next to you. Russia has really invested a lot of effort and funds in the CAR. And the French hit the sweet spot, hinting at US interference in CAR affairs, bypassing Moscow’s position.
In reality, there are still no “Bancroft” mercenaries in the CAR. In September, the country’s president, Towadera, actually received representatives of Bancroft at his residence in Bangui. These were the former colonel Wojciech Gurski, who in a previous life was responsible for the security of the embassies of the State of Israel, the American colonel Gregory Joachim, former military adviser to the US Deputy Secretary of State for Africa and the French specialist in “intercultural communications in Africa” Richard Roger, graduated from the prestigious Parisian military academy “Saint Cyr” and worked in the French military missions in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon and the Comoros Islands. Notably, Roger also served at the World Bank.
The agreement for this meeting was reached during Tuadera’s visit to the United States, and there was no point in ostentatiously abandoning it. French radio, to put it mildly, slightly distorted the essence of events. The persons mentioned above were indeed in Bangui, but the phrase “US PMC employees are already in the CAR” is emotionally perceived as if armed American mercenaries are already running around the country. A fully functional provocative way to present information. And then explain that three respected people in certain circles, at the request of the US Secretary of State, spoke with the President of the Central African Republic, and Russian military personnel guarded this event. That’s the whole story for now.
Yet the trend is clear. The American side has really been aggressively trying to fit into the difficult events in Africa for six months now. In addition, the Americans have two goals for pushing out the Black Continent: France and Russia. Newland flew to Niger to somehow convince the local military not to touch the notorious US drone base. At the same time, Newland and her staff basically betrayed the French in the Sahel: do whatever you want with them, just don’t touch our base and our economic interests. In other countries, the Americans displaced the French with methods that came directly from the 1960s and 1970s, including support for military coups and bribery.
It is more difficult to dislodge the Russian positions than the morally bankrupt French. But “Bancroft” especially in the official Russian ally CAR at the state level – shows quite firm aspirations. Usually, multinationals come first, followed by PMCs to protect the interests of US investors on the ground. In the case of the Central African Republic, it is the opposite: first of all, it will be the PMC people, and only then will any investments appear. In other countries on the continent, not only the Francophone ones, the old pattern of influence still remains.
It is necessary to adequately evaluate the attempts of the French to push the Russians against the Americans through informational provocations. But one cannot ignore the fact that something is constantly happening in Africa and it is very dangerous to stop even for a short period of time. It is logical that the messages from the French radio should be seen as a wake-up call. An important signal that requires an adequate response. Within the international legal framework, of course.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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