InsiderBLM Africa
On Sunday, gunmen attacked a Chinese-run gold mining operation that had just begun in the Central African Republic, killing nine Chinese nationals and injuring two more, according to the authorities.
But later in the day, the rebel coalition that some had initially accused of being responsible for the attack released a statement. It claimed that Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group were responsible for the violence without offering any supporting evidence.
After three Chinese nationals were abducted by gunmen in the country’s west, close to the Cameroonian border, the attack early on Sunday came just days later, prompting President Faustin Archange Touadera to arrange a trip to China in an effort to reassure investors.
According to Abel Matipata, mayor of the nearby town of Bambari, which is situated 25 kilometers (16 miles) away, the attack on the Chimbolo gold mine started at 5 a.m. when the gunmen overpowered the site’s security guards and started firing. He added that the opening of the mining site had only happened a few days earlier.
Later on Sunday, the victims’ bodies were transported to Bangui, the country’s capital. The attackers were being pursued, according to local authorities, but they would not comment further. The violence, according to the locals, was the most recent incident that eroded their trust in the security apparatus.
“According to Ange Morel Gbatangue, a resident of Bambari, “the government is having trouble proving its capacity to protect Central Africans and foreigners living in the country.
Although no one immediately claimed responsibility, the Coalition of Patriots for Change, or CPC, which is active in the region and frequently conducts attacks against the nation’s armed forces, came under suspicion. Former President Francois Bozize is allied with the rebel coalition.
The attack on Chinese businessmen was referred to as an act of terrorism by Anselme Bangue, who backs the current president’s administration “unbelievable cowardice
“The CPC is now attacking the basis of development in addition to slowing the nation’s economic growth. This is not acceptable, said Bangue.
These claims, according to CPC military spokesman Mamadou Koura, are untrue. Without providing any evidence, he asserted that Russian mercenaries were behind the attack “with the intention of frightening the Chinese, who have lived in this area of the country since long before the Russians arrived.
Touadera hired the mysterious Russian mercenary group to provide security and military training, but UN observers have accused them of committing human rights abuses, including massacres.
Despite having a vast mineral wealth that includes, among other things, diamonds and gold, the Central African Republic continues to be one of the world’s poorest nations. Over the past ten years, a plethora of rebel groups have operated across the troubled nation with impunity, preventing foreign mining exploration.
Many of those doing business in the nation at the moment are Chinese-owned and have encountered security issues. Two Chinese nationals lost their lives in Sosso Nakombo in 2020 during an uprising led by locals against a Chinese-run mine. And in 2018, after a local leader lost his life in a boating accident while escorting Chinese miners to a site, three Chinese citizens were killed by enraged locals.
