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“We will support Russia until our last breath! » This March 5, 2022, thousands of kilometers from Ukraine, then invaded by Moscow’s forces for a little over a week, dozens of demonstrators wave the Russian flag in the streets of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. .
“The Russians asked Ukraine to stop its attacks, but the Ukrainians did not obey, so Russia was forced to attack Ukraine, that’s what you have to understand”, explain the organizers, members of “National Galaxy”, an association close to power. Russian propaganda is displayed on placards: “Russia and the Central African Republic against Nazism”. A little behind, masked white men observe the scene from their vehicle with smoked windows. In Bangui, however, everyone knows their affiliation.
The mercenaries of the Wagner Group, a company without official existence but present wherever the Kremin has interests, are at the heart of Central African power, protecting a government favorable to Moscow. In a few years, the country has become the laboratory of aggressive and multifaceted propaganda.
The first Russians arrived in early 2018. France had just put an end to the French operation “Sangaris” (2013-2016) without succeeding in extinguishing the embers of the civil war. Bangui then signs a defense agreement with Moscow, which over time will send up to 2,000 “instructors” to form a national army in disarray and under-equipped.
The Wagners provide close protection for President Faustin-Archange Touadéra and wage fierce battles for control of mining sites in the interior of the country. At the cost of serious abuses against civilians, widely documented by the United Nations: torture, rape, summary executions, ethnic targeting.
A selfless partner
But Russia is also fighting on another front: that of propaganda. “Secret meetings, to prepare demonstrations, are organized at the presidency where the Wagners and the highest Central African authorities sit”explains a former member of the ruling party, now in exile after denouncing the Russian maneuvers. “The participants receive a sum of money which they then distribute to the neighborhood chiefs by taking their share. Each receives 1,500 CFA francs [environ 2 euros] after the event”enough to survive one more day in the second poorest country in the world.
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