The four heavily armed men in fatigues, “of French, Italian, Romanian and Bulgarian nationality”, according to the prosecutor, were escorting a French general from the UN peacekeeping force (Minusca) to the airport, had assured the French army and the UN.
The UN denounces “gross manipulation”
But they were immediately accused on social networks of wanting to “assassinate” the Central African president, whose convoy was to pass through the same place at Bangui airport, which Paris and the UN immediately strongly denied, denouncing “disinformation” and “gross manipulation”.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Bangui High Court has decided to open a regular investigation to shed light on the facts,” said prosecutor Laurent Lengande on Tuesday evening on the radio of State.
On board a “suspicious vehicle”, armored and unmarked UN, in possession of four automatic pistols, three assault rifles and a machine gun, the four men were “within 30 meters of the passage of the presidential convoy”, assured the Central African magistrate.
“These soldiers of the French army belong to the corps of the Foreign Legion and are still detained by the Central African authorities”
The four men in fatigues, with all their usual military equipment, and wearing Minusca badges, were members of the close security of French General Stéphane Marchenoir, chief of staff of the Minusca force, which they came from to drop off at the airport for a flight to Paris, according to the French army and the UN.
“These soldiers of the French army belong to the corps of the Foreign Legion and are still detained by the Central African authorities,” a French army official in Africa told AFP in the evening on condition of anonymity.
Meetings for their release
A senior UN official in the Central African Republic met with President Faustin Archange Touadéra in order to obtain “as soon as possible” their release, the United Nations spokesman in New York said on Tuesday evening.
This incident occurred at a time when relations between France and its former colony are increasingly tense, exacerbated by a fierce war of influence between Paris and Moscow, in this country in civil war since 2013.
France accuses the Central African Republic of being “accomplice” of an anti-French campaign orchestrated by Moscow, in particular by countless trolls on social networks and in certain media. And Moscow criticizes Paris for accusing the Russian private security company Wagner of having seized the country’s power and resources.