An investigation was opened on Tuesday, February 22, after the arrest the day before of four soldiers of the French army operating under the banner of the UN in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. The military are “still detained by the Central African authorities”, according to an official of the French army in Africa to AFP. A senior UN official in the Central African Republic met with President Touadéra in order to obtain “as quickly as possible” their release. Franceinfo returns to this case.
Four legionnaires were arrested
Four soldiers of the French army operating under the banner of the UN were arrested on Monday, February 21, by the Central African gendarmerie, in front of Bangui airport. These soldiers from the corps of the Foreign Legion are “of French, Italian, Romanian and Bulgarian nationality”said the public prosecutor of Bangui, Tuesday evening.
They were escorting French General Stéphane Marchenoir, chief of staff of the peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic (Minusca) to the airport, where he was boarding a plane for Paris, according to the French army and the UN. The Minusca has about 15,000 soldiers and police in the country.
They were traveling in an unmarked vehicle
At the time of their arrest, the four legionnaires were heavily armed and in fatigues. They carried their usual military equipment, four automatic pistols, three assault rifles, a machine gun and grenades.
Equipped with Minusca badges, they were traveling in an unmarked vehicle without the UN logo and considered to be “suspect”, according to the public prosecutor of Bangui. The vehicle, “followed by the police intelligence services for two months”found “less than 30 meters from the passage of the presidential convoy”he assured.
They are accused on the networks of having wanted to “assassinate” the Central African president
Immediately, these soldiers were accused on numerous private accounts on social networks, with numerous photos of their equipment, of having wanted “murder” Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, whose convoy was to pass through the same place. Paris and the UN immediately strongly denied this, denouncing a “disinformation” and an “rough handling”.
Minusca force to take the Air France flight with their professional equipment. The French Embassy deeply regrets this incident. It condemns its immediate instrumentalization on certain malicious networks and the gross disinformation to which it gives rise.
— France in Bangui (@FranceBangui) February 21, 2022
The Central African prosecutor announced the opening of“a regular investigation to shed light on the facts”.
Bangui is at the heart of tensions between Paris and Moscow
On the day of the opening of the investigation, France and the United States accused before the UN Security Council the “mercenaries” of the Russian private security company Wagner to have “executed” and “massacre” dozens of civilians in January and 200 civilians in recent months. The Russian paramilitary group is accused of carrying out a campaign “systematic” of “terror” in the Central African Republic, where its members fight the rebels alongside the regular army. “This violence is systematic, deliberate, it is part of a method that aims to provoke terror in order to control certain territories and derive profits from it”said the French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière.
#Central African: A wave of Russian paramilitaries arrives this morning aboard an Antonov on the tarmac of Bangui Mpoko airport.@Makafaitsonshow @RFIAfrique @vianney_ingasso @A BUS pic.twitter.com/8yVjiGjrVA
— Fridolin Ngoulou (@fridolinngoulou) February 21, 2022
Moscow totally rejects the assertions of Paris and Washington. Those are “charges against our specialists”a “hysterical campaign (…) to discredit them”denounced a Russian diplomat at the UN.
Tensions between France and the Central African Republic, a former colony in civil war since 2013, are exacerbated by this fierce war of influence between Paris and Moscow. France accuses the Central African Republic of being “partner in crime” of an “anti-French” campaign orchestrated by Moscow. Already, in June 2021, France had cut off its military and financial aid to the Central African Republic for these reasons. This strategy encouraging anti-French sentiment has already been observed in Mali.
>> Mali: how Russia blows on the embers of anti-French sentiment
For its part, Moscow reproaches Paris for accusing Wagner’s paramilitaries of having taken control of the country’s power and resources. Russian paramilitaries have been present in the Central African Republic since 2018, where they provide close security for President Touadéra.
At the end of December 2020, a coalition of armed groups which then controlled more than two-thirds of the Central African Republic launched an offensive towards Bangui to overthrow the president on the eve of the presidential election. The Head of State, finally re-elected, had then called on Moscow to the rescue of his impoverished and poorly trained army. Moscow claims to have sent “unarmed instructors”. Wagner fighters, according to the UN and France.
Since their dazzling counter-offensive, the Central African military, mainly thanks to Russian paramilitaries, have regained most of the territory, pushing the rebels out of the towns and their main strongholds. Their goal: to regain control of the main gold and diamond deposits.