Wagner’s group of mercenaries help suppress the rebels and collect gold, diamonds and logging rights
Even plans to amend the constitution to maintain the pro-Russian regime… “We are a colony of Russia”
On the 24th (local time), the New York Times (NYT) analyzed that Russia has quietly increased its influence in African countries while the West focuses on the war in Ukraine.
According to reports, Russia has practically taken control of a significant part of the resource-rich Central African Republic, located in the center of the African continent, through the Wagner Group, a private mercenary group.
Wagner’s mercenaries, who wear masks covering their faces, openly carry automatic weapons and drive anonymous vehicles in this country, but no one dares to stop or punish them.
Huge profits are known to be made in resources such as gold and diamond mines and forests controlled by the Wagner group.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, ‘Putin’s chef’ who heads the Wagner group, is someone who gained President Vladimir Putin’s trust by deploying mercenaries recruited from his country’s prisons in large numbers on the Ukrainian front.
Through these channels, Russia exerts direct influence on the political world of the Central African Republic.
In March, soon after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia reportedly launched a plan to extend the mandate of pro-Russian President Archange Tuadera of Central Africa in order to secure international support for the war.
At the time, Yevgeny Migunov of the Russian embassy in Central Africa visited CAR Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel Darlang and demanded that the constitutional provision limiting the presidential term to two terms be amended. The referendum process is said to be for the constitutional amendment has begun to roll.
About 14,500 United Nations peacekeepers are deployed in Central Africa, which suffers from a protracted civil war that has continued since 2012, but locals trust Wagner’s mercenaries more than them, according to the NYT.
One has the perception that in reality the Russians who enter with weapons and interfere in internal affairs are much better at stabilizing their own order than the West, which maintains a hypocritical attitude.
Flora Asangou, a local resident, grinned when asked if the United Nations forces patrolling her neighborhood would help.
“When the rebels kill someone, the UN forces take pictures, but the Russians kill them,” he said.
In fact, Russian mercenaries sent to African countries are rated as very effective in suppressing and disbanding rebel groups.
After being elected in 2016, President Tuadera, deeply disappointed in the capabilities of his army, accepted a Russian offer to send “military instructors”.
Wagner’s mercenaries, who secretly set foot in the Central African Republic, helped maintain the regime through human rights violations such as looting and killing, and in return they obtained vested interests such as mining development and logging.
As a result, the once 1,600-strong French army in the Central African Republic was pushed back and completed its withdrawal last month.
Perhaps for this reason it is difficult to detect the public opinion that supports Ukraine for this war in Central Africa.
The NYT reported a similar situation in sub-Saharan countries, such as Mali and Sudan, where Wagner reached out.
When a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was passed at the United Nations Special Emergency General Assembly last March, only 28 out of 54 African countries supported it.
The others either abstained or did not participate, and Eritrea voted against.
“Today we are a colony of Russia,” said Jean-Serge Bokassa, who served as interior minister in the Tuadera government, and predicted that “blood will flow” in relation to the constitutional referendum.
/yunhap news
