In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), published this weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the anti-French sentiment in the Central African Republic, which he said was being exploited by a private military group linked to Russia. A reference to the private military company Wagner, a group that has no legal existence but has close ties to the Kremlin, say observers and whose elements are said to be fighting alongside government forces.
as reported from Bangui, Carol Valade
President Macron’s remarks about Russian military cooperation are controversial in the Central African Republic. In an interview published on Sunday, May 30 inJDD, the French head of state evoked the anti-French sentiment in the Central African Republic, instrumentalized according to him by a private Russian military company. “This anti-French speech makes it possible to legitimize the presence of Russian predatory mercenaries at the top of the state with a President Touadéra who is today the hostage of the Wagner group,” explained Emmanuel Macron, before adding: “This group defeats the mines and thus the political system According to many observers, several hundred fighters from this group have been involved for several months in the fighting that government forces have waged against armed groups without their relations with Russian instructors recognized by Moscow being clearly established.
Disclaimer
On the side of the Central African Presidency, we refrain from commenting. “But our line has not moved,” indicates a source near the palace. This line? “We are not dealing with the Wagner group but with the Russian Ministry of Defense within the framework of a bilateral agreement that is applied in full transparency and under the control of the Security Council.”
From a diplomatic source, the two heads of state would have exchanged by phone a few days earlier, President Macron announced his Central African counterpart that “budget support 2020 will not be paid and 2021 will be abolished”.
► To read also: In the Central African Republic, victims of Russian abuses break the law of secrecy
If Russian cooperation has ardent supporters in Bangui, even organizing marches in the capital, others in the opposition are more critical: “The president clings to Russia like a wasted man clinging to a crocodile,” storms Joseph Bendouga, deputy for the Mouvementdemocratique pour la renaissance et developpement de la Centrafrique (MDREC), known for its strong verb and which fears that the people will get caught in the sea between the actors in the conflict.
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