Several hundred fighters “experienced” de Wagner arrived in the Central African Republic to ” Ensure the security “ in anticipation of the July 30 referendum, a group linked to the Russian paramilitary group said on Sunday July 16.
“Another plane arrived in Bangui with instructors to work in the Central African Republic. The scheduled rotation continues. Several hundred experienced professionals from the Wagner company join the team working in the Central African Republic »the Community of Officers for International Security (COSI) said on Telegram. “Russian instructors will continue to help Central African armed forces and law enforcement personnel in the Central African Republic provide security ahead of the constitutional referendum scheduled for July 30”the statement said.
Along with this release, COSI released a photo showing at least 30 people masked in military fatigues, standing in line on what appears to be an airport runway. According to the United States, COSI is a front company for the Wagner group in the Central African Republic. It is led by a Russian, Alexander Ivanov, under American sanctions since January. In its press release, the COSI assures that its instructors have been training for “more than five years” the Central African security forces and thus made it possible to “reinforce the general level of security” from the country.
At the beginning of July, several foreign sources had claimed that an unknown number of Wagner mercenaries were leaving the Central African Republic, information firmly denied by the government. The status of the private paramilitary company and the continuation of its operations have been uncertain since its aborted mutiny in Russia on June 23-24. But its interventions abroad, in particular in Syria and in several African countries (Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali), have so far not been publicly called into question. As soon as the end of the mutiny was announced, Bangui affirmed that Wagner’s activities would ” continue “.