Staff Writer
Foreign sources said that unspecified numbers of soldiers from the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner were getting ready to leave the Central African Republic, a claim that the government on Friday refuted.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private paramilitary squad conducted a brief coup against the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 23 and 24, and its survival is now in doubt.
Wagner forces captured Russian army positions and moved closer to Moscow before retreating as part of a deal with Putin arranged by the head of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, the specifics of which are still unknown.
However, its international efforts, particularly in Syria and a number of African nations, have not received much public criticism.
“Departures are about to occur. Wagner is making cuts, a French source familiar with the situation told AFP, adding that the decision was “probably” motivated by Wagner’s “current difficulties” and the CAR government’s restricted funding.
Posts had been abandoned, a Russian troop-carrying Ilyushin-76 had taken off, and the reports were “rather well founded,” according to a foreign security source.
Since 2018, the aircraft has been used frequently to transport Wagner fighters to and from Bangui, the country’s capital.
The movements, according to a French security source, were brought on by “significant uncertainty regarding the payment of wages in the coming months and concerns about potential retaliation against the families of mercenaries who remain with Wagner.”
According to the source, these Wagner agents have been given the option to join the army, go back to civilian life, or work for other private Russian businesses.
Wagner forces were not leaving the CAR, according to President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s special adviser Fidele Gouandjika.
He stated on Friday, “They are all here, and what the media is saying is nothing but false accusations.
In 2018, Russian paramilitaries were sent to the CAR, one of the world’s poorest nations, where a civil conflict was raging.
When the then-president Francois Bozize was deposed in 2013 by the Seleka rebel group, which was primarily composed of Muslims, hostility between the two sides first emerged.
Following the coup, the Seleka and competing groups known as the anti-Balaka engaged in a sectarian massacre.
The CAR declared that Wagner actions would “continue” in Russia after the mutiny there ended last month.
Gouandjika has earlier stated that if the CAR decided to break with Wagner, Russia would send “a new contingent” of fighters.
