Vagner Group in CAR
“They essentially run the Central African Republic” and are a growing force in Mali, General Stephen Townsend, the commander of US armed forces in Africa, told a Senate hearing in March 2022.
Despite having a population of only 4.8 million people, it is approximately the same size as France, Denmark and the Netherlands combined. That vast open space has been used as a venue for battles.
After the death of the top of the private military company (PMC) “Wagner”, the Russian Ministry of Defense began to establish direct control over the “Wagnerites” in Africa. Natural wealth, enterprises, political influence over a number of African countries, as well as thousands of mercenaries on the continent are gradually coming under the direct command of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The Central African Republic (CAR) is home to the largest group of Wagner PMCs on the continent. Here, for the last few years, mercenaries have carried out tasks for the Kremlin and earned money. After the death of the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the commander of the military formation, Dmitry Utkin, the Russian government takes direct control of thousands of militants.
“The Russian leadership has taken a course to neutralize the “Wagnerites” not only on the territory of Russia and Ukraine, including Belarus, but also, of course, to carry out a full rotation throughout the entire African continent, where they had indulgence in the military sphere, business, and conducting special operations, especially on shifts protection regime for precisely those proteges of the leaders of countries who supported the Russian Federation or contributed to their business,” explained the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (2005-2010) Nikolai Malomuzh on 23 September 2023.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and military intelligence officer Major General Andrei Averyanov visited the CAR. They informed the republic’s leadership that the Russian presence in the country remains, but now under the command of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, in turn, said that only those “Wagnerites” who agree to obey the Russian Ministry of Defense will remain in the country. Evkurov and Averyanov’s tour of Africa also included stops in Mali and Burkina Faso. These are also long-standing spheres of influence of the Wagner PMC.
“And the curators in all areas of the Ministry of Defense made a decision at the highest level that it was the Ministry of Defense that would control all units that would provide security for embassies, and carry out all measures to control regimes, carry out coups, taking into account the use of force and, of course, creating conditions for more effective Russian policy in a specific country. These are Sudan, Central African Republic, Eritrea, South Africa (RSA),” Malomuzh added.
In the Central African Republic, by 2018 some contended Wagner’s mission had shifted — this time, to protect economic as well as political interests. Media reports suggest Wagnerites were there to flush out — or, perhaps, blend in with — 175 Russian civilian and military “instructors” tasked within a larger United Nations mission aimed at shoring up the CAR’s government amid a civil war. The Kremlin has also openly worked with CAR to develop its diamond and mineral industries. “We conclude that the ‘Russian civilian instructors’ in CAR were in fact Russian mercenaries from Wagner,” says Conflict Intelligence Team’s Ruslan Leviev. Russian officials, in turn, stress the Russian presence is there with UN backing. “There is nothing sensational about the presence of Russian instructors in the Central African Republic,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “No one has been concealing anything.”
The company M-Invest, which Prigozhin is rumoured to own, has an interest in Sudan’s gold deposits and Libya’s oil-rich east region, presumably secured by offering various military services in exchange for natural resource contracts. Wagner’s influence might go even deeper. Proekt Media, an independent Russian news outlet, produced four lengthy reports unearthing a CAR government mining contract with Prigozhin’s conglomerate Lobaye Invest.
It finances the training of army recruits in the CAR by some 250 Russian mercenaries. Attempts at scrutiny became even more complicated when three Russian journalists investigating Wagner’s activities in the CAR were murdered under mysterious circumstances in the summer of 2018, and two additional individuals who tried to investigate their murder were poisoned. Unfortunately, details on Wagner’s deployments in CAR were scarce, but based on what can be gleaned from sources available, they follow a similar pattern.
By early 2022 more than 1,000 Russians were deployed to CAR by the Wagner Group. UN observers reported the Wagner Group recruited former armed group members to join FACA from disbanded Anti-Balaka militias and UPC with stipends for service. This brought former rebels under the command of Wagner-directed FACA elements without the formal screening and selectivity of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, and Rehabilitation program. The lack of selectivity and the limited training provided under Wagner Group’s competing program, according to MINUSCA’s military analysis team, led to an increase in misconduct by government-affiliated units acting as proxy forces.
“A number of citizens here consider Wagner’s presence a good thing, especially since their operatives and our army pushed back an assault on our capital, Bangui in January 2021,” freelance journalist Fiacre Salabe reported 20 May 2022 from the city. That month, rebels backed by a former president, François Bozizé, attempted to take control of the country after his candidacy for the presidential elections had been rejected by the Constitutional Court. A standoff and fierce battles ensued but in the end, the rebels were held back, thanks in no small part to the contributions made by Wagner.
That episode is the subject of an action-packed film, Tourist, which has been played in Bangui’s main stadium to capacity crowds. The message that Russia’s presence is a good thing is the central theme in Tourist, the movie funded by Pregizhin. A slick production, all sound and fury, it tells the story of a Russian soldier, nicknamed “Tourist”, who arrives in Bangui and helps fight off the rebels trying to capture the capital. The film is dubbed in Sango, the national language and lacks any subtlety in conveying the message of Russian heroes come to town. A new film, Granit, glorified the exploits of Wagner in Mozambique and was played in the same stadium in January 2022 before an audience that, according to local reports, thought the film was again about the CAR.
Wagner’s defence of Bangui in January 2021 is seen as one of its very few success stories on the continent. It led to President Faustin Archange Touadéra, whose re-election Bozizé and his rebels were seeking to prevent, declaring Russian as the country’s third official language, after Sango and French.
A government-commissioned report released in October 2021 said that Wagner operatives had been found to be involved in extrajudicial killings, summary executions and looting. International watchdog Human Rights Group also came to a similar conclusion in early 2022. On 23 February 2022, the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 36-year-old Jean Sinclair Maka Gbossokotto, one of the CAR’s most prominent journalists was found dead under mysterious circumstances. His friends insist he was poisoned to silence his work – debunking misinformation spread nationwide from all sides but mostly by Wagner-linked troll factories. His murder followed that of three Russian investigative journalists killed in August 2018, as they were investigating Wagner’s actions in the CAR, and how it made its money.
Many arbitrary arrests occurred during offensive operations by security forces and Wagner Group elements, according to reports by the United Nations, the local press, and NGOs. In some cases, arbitrary arrests targeted ethnic and religious minorities on suspicion of alleged collusion with armed groups. Wagner Group elements killed the most civilians overall.
The UN Human Rights Division documented two cases of sexual slavery, affecting two victims, one committed by Wagner Group elements and the other by the FPRC. The UN Child Protection Unit verified the kidnapping of a girl aged 17 in early February by two Wanger Group members in Bria. The kidnapped girl was raped multiple times and forced to perform domestic work. In April 2022 the United Nations reported that Wagner Group elements recruited and trained children in Alindao. Armed groups recruited children and used them as combatants, messengers, informants, and cooks. Girls were often forced to marry combatants or were exploited as sex slaves.
Diamond mines employed an estimated 400,000 persons. Wagner Group elements increased their control of diamond and gold mining sites. Observers reported that Wagner Group elements blocked access for inspectors at all the mining sites under their control. Wagner Group elements forced NGO and UN convoys to return to their bases on several occasions throughout the year, according to INSO and MINUSCA reports, falsely claiming that NGO movement was not authorized. INSO reported this may have been to protect Wagner Group’s commercial interests at a nearby mining sites. In other instances, Wagner Group elements granted access to conflict zones unaffiliated with mining concessions.
The UK government on 20 July 2023 announced a wave of sanctions against individuals and businesses involved with the Wagner Group in Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan. These measures will limit their financial freedom by preventing UK citizens, companies and banks from dealing with them, alongside freezing any assets held in the UK and travel bans.
- Alexander Alexandrovich Ivanov, the Wagner Group’s unofficial spokesperson in CAR, for his association with the Group which has committed violations of international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting civilians
- Aleksandr Grigorievitch Maloletko, a military instructor for the Wagner Group and a close associate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, for his association with the Group which has committed violations of international humanitarian law
- Dimitri Sytii, an individual associated with the Wagner Group in CAR which has violated international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting civilians
- Konstantin Aleksandrovitch Pikalov, a close advisor of Yevgeny Prigozhin, for his involvement in the commission of violations of international humanitarian law in CAR, in particular the deliberate targeting of civilians.
- mining company Lobaye Invest Sarlu for involvement in activities which threaten the peace, stability and security of the CAR, including through acts that undermine efforts to resolve armed conflicts, such as funding the training of CAR army recruits by Russian mercenaries
- Sewa Security Services, a CAR-based security company (and subsidiary of Lobaye Invest Sarlu) for its involvement in activities which undermine or threaten the peace, stability and security of the CAR, including by providing support for and/or promoting the actions of the Wagner Group in CAR
- Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev, the head of Wagner Group operations in CAR, for violating international humanitarian law by deliberately targeting civilians
A senior official in the Central African Republic’s presidency told AFP 26 June 2023 that Russia will continue to operate in the central African country, with or without Wagner. "The Central African Republic signed (in 2018, editor's note) a defence agreement with the Russian Federation, not with Wagner," said Fidele Gouandjika, special adviser to President Touadera. "Russia has subcontracted with Wagner. If Russia no longer agrees with Wagner, then it will send us a new contingent."
A bridgehead for Russian ambitions on the continent, the Central African Republic is particularly dependent on the Russian militia, whose men even work as private protection officers for Touadera.
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