Free opinion, by Éric Percheron, associate researcher at IRIS
The Central African Republic (CAR) was for years one of the bastions of French influence in Africa. Landlocked and without maritime access, this country, larger than France, has never been able to find a point of democratic balance or the conditions for an internal peace that would favor its development, despite significant natural resources – notably gold – and a positioning at the heart of the continent. Which resources have long maintained a culpable interest of the military regimes that have succeeded since independence in 1960.
The CAR is very regularly singled out as one of the least favorable countries for doing business there, one of the most corrupt in the world, with no real capacity for economic emergence, and in any case in a situation of civil war. since 2013. France decided at the end of 2021 to reorganize its military presence and its financial assistance in the CAR, after having carried out the security of the country within the framework of Operation Sangaris from 2013 to 2016. The estimated cost would have reached 200 million euros in a full year, without even mentioning the human cost that the combatants of the said force had to bear.
RCA gold, safe haven for Russia
Even though the French forces were managing the conditions of their withdrawal as well as possible, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra seemed to have made arrangements for the rest of his mandates (elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020) since from 2018, then 2020, he had called upon the services of the infamous Wagner militia, which would subsequently extend its influence over nine African countries, including Mali, finding itself in fact in conflict with the soldiers of Operation Barkhane in the same area.
Why on earth would these militiamen, at ease in genocide and torture of all kinds on behalf of the Russian regime, go to deploy their macabre capacities in some of the poorest countries in the world? The leaders of this militia, in the forefront of which we count the “cook of Putin”, Evgueni Prigojine, who is the subject of financial sanctions on the part of the West, would they find an interest in it, precisely in a context of sanctions and asset freezes?
“In the current context of the implementation of sanctions against the Russian regime, the safe haven of the yellow metal regains its full meaning, insofar as the Kremlin will always be able to obtain non-monetary resources (therefore not frozen) via this metal”
“He is the gold, Monsignor.” We all have in mind this cult replica of ‘Delusions of grandeur’, which smells of ORTF and the choice between two channels. But ultimately, it is this interest that drives the Wagner system. As of course, the power in the CAR does not have the means to ensure the security of its regime, its outsourcing to Wagner (successfully, since the militia repelled the armed rebel groups) was organized around a deal who initially delegated to Wagner the collection of customs duties (!), then finally let the spooks derive a direct profit from mining resources, first and foremost… gold.
In the current context of the implementation of sanctions against the Russian regime, the safe haven of the yellow metal regains its full meaning, insofar as the Kremlin will always be able to obtain non-monetary resources (therefore not frozen) via this metal. Gold constitutes, as such, a powerful and anonymous means of being able to trade with the outside world for a country banned from the international financial system. The position of the CAR during the vote condemning the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine by Russia at the UN clearly shows who contracted with Wagner. Among the countries that decided to remain silent during the vote we find… CAR and Mali.
Let’s go a step further.
CAR at the forefront of global financial innovation
On April 27, 2022, the CAR formalized bitcoin as the “reference” currency, alongside the CFA franc. And Touadéra to consider that “this approach places the CAR on the map of the most visionary countries in the world”.
But with a staggering fact: bitcoin transactions will be tax exempt. The CAR therefore renounces a sovereign principle of control of its currency (admittedly, until now, the CFA franc deprived the CAR of part of its prerogatives, but it was the guarantor of the maintenance of a reserve of value) and of the determination of its budgetary policy. Stunning too: the CAR almost claims to make a country in which only 15% of the population has access to electricity, a new and marvelous City of Gold.
Why Bitcoin? Not for the well-being of the local population, whose first need before starting to “mine” would already be to have an HDI that does not place it in the penultimate place in the world.
“Amazing fact: bitcoin transactions will be tax exempt. The CAR therefore renounces a sovereign principle of control of its currency and the determination of its budgetary policy. Who will benefit from this decision? After all, Russia is one of the most advanced countries in the field of cryptos”
Who will benefit from this decision? Perhaps to an organization which, in the end, may not be satisfied with despoiling the gold resources of a developing country? Perhaps to the order giver of this organization, who still needs to be able to trade other than with suitcases of ingots? After all, Russia is one of the most advanced countries in the field of cryptos, just like North Korea, Iran, Cuba or Venezuela, all countries that are subject to American sanctions. and must therefore find an alternative to the dollar.
It may seem obvious that the Touadéra regime will have had a very “intellectual” reading of what a bitcoin, or any other crypto currency, can be – including the supposed “stable coins”. It is damaging, and obviously first and foremost for the population of the CAR, that this irrational choice was made. It carries within it the seeds of an abandonment of the sovereign power that the government was still able to assume (it is easy to exercise, more difficult to assume).
Even if it means being damned, Faust will be carried away by Berlioz’s elegance, not by the discomfort that comes with Wagner.