Hundreds of Central Africans gathered on Saturday, January 29, at the sports stadium in Bangui for the screening of a film extolling the merits of the interventions of Russian paramilitaries in Africa. In this country ravaged by civil war since 2013, the head of state Faustin Archange Touadéra called on Russia for help to counter an offensive by armed groups which aimed to overthrow his regime at the end of 2020. The very strong influence of Russia in this former French colony then took a new step. To the omnipresence of hundreds of paramilitaries and to the hold of Russian companies on Central African gold and diamonds, was added a cultural offensive to “winning hearts” local populations.
A few months after the broadcast in Bangui of Tourist, which depicts the reconquest by the Central African armed forces and their Russian allies of the territories in the hands of the rebels, a new film, Granitealso filmed in the country, tells the story of“Russian instructors” responsible for helping the Mozambican army against Islamist insurgents. The story is inspired by the intervention of Russian paramilitaries from the private security group Wagner in 2019 to fight against a branch of the Islamic State group, which carries out attacks in Cabo Delgado, in the north of Mozambique, a region rich in natural gas and other mines. But most Central Africans present on Saturday January 29 in the audience, mainly young people, understood that the action of the film was happening in their country.
“It makes me feel sorry to see how the rebels cut the throats of innocent people with knives. Everything that happens inside the country hurts me”, told AFP Junior Lenguendja, a high school student, when he saw a scene where houses were burning and villagers were killed by the insurgents. “I wish our forces were as strong as the Russians to defend the homeland”, regrets for his part Patrick Kodawë, student in 2nd year of sociology at the University of Bangui. The film Granite is produced by the Aurum company, majority owned by the Russian businessman Evguéni Prigojine, reputed to be close to Vladimir Putin and suspected of piloting the opaque paramilitary group Wagner. The actors speak French, Sango (one of the Central African national languages) and Arabic. As for the movie Touristit glorifies the action of the Russians in Africa.
“This film presents the exploits of the Russians on various fronts. They save populations in distress and come to the aid of our forces who fall into ambushes. They position themselves as the saviors of our country.”
Titus Konga, resident of Banguiat AFP
“The enemies of the Central African Republic present the Russians as the devil, but we very much appreciate what our partners are doing to liberate the country from the yoke of the rebels”, added one of his friends on condition of anonymity.
Over the past year, government forces have succeeded in recapturing the towns and a good part of two-thirds of the country from the rebels, which they had controlled for several years, mainly thanks to Russian paramilitaries. However, rebel attacks remain frequent. Russia only officially recognizes the presence of 1,135 “unarmed instructors”, but the NGOs operating on the ground, France and the UN claim that some of them are Wagner’s men, which Moscow denies. In mid-2021, the UN group of experts in charge of the Central African Republic and the control of the arms embargo imposed on this country had denounced the abuses committed against civilians during operations of the Central African security forces. and Russian paramilitaries from the Wagner group.
The Central African government had itself acknowledged in October the reality of certain accusations formulated by the UN, in particular on crimes and acts of torture, committed “mostly” by rebels, but also Central African soldiers and their Russian allies.