The parcel bomb whose explosion injured a Russian representative in the Central African Republic on Friday came from Togo and the sender has been identified, according to the first elements of the investigation, the Bangui prosecutor told AFP on Tuesday.
Russia said that one of its representatives in the Central African Republic was injured on Friday in Bangui, the capital, by the explosion of a parcel bomb. An attack that the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner immediately attributed to France before Paris denied these accusations. On the same day, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had mentioned a “criminal act” aiming to “interfere with the development of friendly relationsbetween Moscow and Bangui, without, however, designating a presumed sponsor.
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On Sunday, the Central African Republic “strongly condemned” the facts and announced the opening of an investigation, reaffirming that “this attack cannot damage the excellent relations between the Central African Republic and the Russian Federation“. “This explosion of criminal origin is likely to be qualified as a terrorist act“, indicated the public prosecutor of Bangui, Benoît Narcisse Foukpio, in a press release sent to AFP.
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According to the first elements of the investigation, the package “containing an explosive device was sent to the head of the Russian house in Bangui (…) from the city of Lomé“, the capital of Togo, he added, adding that he had identified the sender. The package has been sentby the international service of the DHL company (a transport company, editor’s note) on a Kenya Airways flight“, he concluded. The Central African Republic, a country in civil war since 2013, is at the heart of the Russian influence strategy in Africa.
The growing role of Wagner also led France, a former colonial power, to withdraw its soldiers from the country. The last left Bangui on Thursday. France had decided in the summer of 2021 to suspend its military cooperation with Bangui, judged “partner in crimeof an anti-French campaign guided by Russia.