UN experts said they had received and continue to receive reports of “serious violations of human rights” by Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic (CAR), where they have supported the militant government’s military.
“The experts have received, and continue to receive, reports of serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law, which can be attributed to the private military personnel working with CAR’s armed forces and in some cases to the UN. peacekeepers, “it said in a statement. business.
The alleged abuses identified by the mercenary working group include mass executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, forced disappearances, forced displacement of civilians, arbitrary targeting of civilian facilities and attacks on humanitarian workers.
Rebels have been retreating in the conflict-torn country since a January 13 attack on the capital Bangui was countered.
Violence in recent months is just the latest blast in a civil war that has been going on for eight years since President Francois Bozize was ousted, who this month said he had taken control of the “Coalition of Patriots for Change” rebel alliance.
The coalition brought together six of the armed groups that control much of the country in mid-December, in an attempt to stop presidential and legislative elections, which confirmed incumbent President Faustin Archange Touadera in power.
Thousands of people have died in CAR since 2013 and more than a quarter of the population of 4.9 million have fled their homes.
Of these, 675,000 are refugees in neighboring countries.
‘Series of violent attacks’
Government forces have been reinforced by a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force and hundreds of Russian and Rwandan paramilitaries and troops deployed in late December.
UN experts said they were “deeply disturbed by the interconnected roles of Sewa Security Services, the Russian-owned Lobaye Invest SARLU and a Russian-based organization, popularly known as the Wagner Group.”
They spoke of concerns over their connection “to a series of violent attacks” since the December 27 presidential election.
They also said they were “disturbed to learn the proximity and interoperability of these entrepreneurs” and the UN force.
In addition, “there seems to be no investigation and no responsibility for these abuses,” the expert group said, adding that they had passed on their concerns to Moscow, Bangui and “as far as possible” to the companies.
Russia has denied Wagner’s paramilitary forces have been deployed to the Central African Republic, saying only military instructors have been sent to train local soldiers.
Private Army
Although he is linked to a powerful ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner has reportedly been involved in conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Prigozhin, 59, who has been hit by US sanctions for interfering in the 2016 US presidential election, denies any ties to Wagner.
Although private military enterprises are illegal in Russia, Wagner has in recent years played an increasingly important role in realizing the Kremlin’s overseas ambitions, observers say.
Members of the group were reportedly sent along with Russian warplanes and ground troops after Moscow’s intervention in the Syrian war in September 2015 on the side of Bashar Assad.
Moscow has never confirmed reports of Wagner’s mercenaries, but this month three campaign groups launched a criminal case in Russia against alleged members of the construction equipment over the 2017 beheading of a man believed to have left the Syrian army.
European officials have also noted Wagner’s role in conflicts outside Syria and struck sanctions against Prigozhin last year for destabilizing Libya.
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