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Alongside the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s chief mercenary is waging another fight in Africa – against French interests. Before his disinformation campaigns in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, one country served as his laboratory: the Central African Republic. Moscow ended up blowing up the Paris-Bangui couple, but the threat had been identified for a long time… Why wasn’t it taken more seriously?
President Touadéra escorted by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group for the Central African national holiday… Despite numerous reports denouncing their abuses on the population, Evguéni Prigojine’s men are there. And this presence has a price, as revealed in a 2018 diplomatic note that “Complément d’Enquête” obtained. The document points to an agreement granting exploitation rights in several mining areas of the country, allowing Prigojine to seize gold and diamond mines. The French ambassador in Bangui is also worried about “a very active campaign of denigration and disinformation directed against France”, alerting to “a risk for the security of our compatriots and our companies”.
Wagner at the origin of the fire of the Mocaf brewery?
This extract from a portrait of Evguéni Prigojine by “Complément d’Enquête” looks back on a recent attack against a Bangui company owned by a French group (Castel). On the night of March 6, 2023, shortly before 1 a.m., the Mocaf brewery (an institution in the Central African Republic, with 80% of beer sales) was targeted by around thirty Molotov cocktails. A quarter of the stock went up in smoke, the damage amounted to 200,000 euros. Its director, Alain Heraibi, filed a complaint for arson after having dissected the video recordings of the surveillance cameras.
They show “equipped people, with machine guns in their backs. Their position, their way of moving in pairs, make believe that we are dealing more with soldiers than with civilians. There are several subjects that make us believe it could be the Wagners, but we can’t confirm it”, details Alain Heraibi, who has suspected for several months the Russian billionaire and his teams of attacking his company. Because Prigojine wants to conquer the beer market with its new brand, L’Africa ti L’or. In January 2023, right at the time of its launch, repeated demonstrations rocked the brewery. The boss denounces a manipulation.
“I think that we have underestimated the desire to make the Central African Republic a form of laboratory for this common Putin-Prigojine desire to take hostage states in Africa.”
Jean-Yves Le Drian, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (from May 2017 to May 2022)to “Further investigation”
Did the Quai d’Orsay take into account the note sent by its ambassador in 2018? “Complementary investigation” interviewed Jean-Yves Le Drian, one of his recipients as Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time. The former minister refuses to mention this note, “confidential”. But he ends up admitting that France was naive in the face of Prigojine’s methods…
Extract from “Prigojine, Poutine’s butcher”, a document to see in “Complément d’Enquête” on June 15, 2023.
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