William Molinié and Louis de Raguenel
modified to
06:45, February 08, 2022
While the mercenaries of the Russian private military company Wagner are deployed in Mali, the French intelligence services precisely document the extent of the abuses committed in the Central African Republic. The Russians began to establish themselves there in 2018 during a first delivery of arms for the benefit of the Central African power, making themselves essential over the months for the rearmament and reconstruction of the country.
In documents that we have consulted, the French intelligence services have compiled throughout 2021 the main abuses attributed to loyalist forces. More than 200 cases of abuse have thus been recorded since December 2020: looting, theft, illegal occupation of homes, arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, summary executions… In support, the intelligence services have in their hands photos . Some of them, unbearable, show bodies burned, cut up or even corpses riddled with bullets. An essential documentation work to understand the actions of the private military company Wagner and its ravages in the African countries which have decided to enlist the services of this hybrid army which escapes the rules of international law.
Deletion of evidence
This documentation is based on military intelligence’s own sources: videos or photos posted on social networks, own sources or those of the UN mission of Minusca (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic). First lesson: this work is complex.
Firstly because the Wagner group takes care to avoid any disclosure in open source, on the Internet or on social networks. The cell phones of any witnesses are seized, the antennas are cut off and access to the localities where the abuses were committed is prevented. Like on January 16 and 17 during a search operation in Aigbando in the east of the country. Between fifteen and sixty people, according to the various assessments, would have been killed. Impossible to determine precisely the share of dead civilians and rebels. The UN patrols could not go there freely, Wagner mercenaries escorted them throughout their mission, point out the writers of this note.
These documents also reveal the difficulty intelligence services may have in attributing abuses. In this hybrid war strategy led by Russia, Wagner maintains the vagueness and relies both on the Central African army that the mercenaries have trained as well as on “auxiliary forces” engaged locally according to alliances of circumstances. Since the end of last year, the mercenaries have relied on armed groups belonging to the Christian animist anti-Balaka movement to establish their presence in the center and east of the country. “Wagner instrumentalizes the inter-community divisions between the Fulani, Muslim and Christian populations to act with complete impunity and strengthen its base”, underline the intelligence analysts.
Traders and village chiefs beheaded
Among the main abuses reported to the big French ears is that of Bambari, committed within the grounds of the Attawka mosque on February 17, 2021. Nineteen civilians were reportedly killed by mercenaries. Nine days later, the Central African armed forces, Rwandan soldiers and members of Wagner burned and destroyed several homes in Ben Zambé, known to be the birthplace of François Bozizé, the former president. On May 8, 2021, a trader from Kaga-Bandoro was allegedly cut up and burned by members of Wagner.
The supposed membership of a rebel armed group allows Wagner to legitimize their abuses. Like on September 26, in the north of Bocaranga in the west of the country, where three Fulani were allegedly tortured and murdered by members of the private military company who claimed that they were part of these armed groups.
The same day in this same sector, 9 Fulani civilians were arrested and then killed with bayonets and rifles after having undoubtedly been tortured, according to information transmitted by the UN mission of Minusca. On November 25, in the west of the country, in Yadé, two women were kidnapped and raped by mercenaries.
Among the latest atrocities recorded, that of December 16, 2021 of Wagner’s auxiliaries. They allegedly raped a woman in a neighborhood of Bambari and beheaded a young man before executing a village chief. Each time, when possible, the intelligence services take care to keep the images of these abuses. If however, one day, they were told that all this never existed.