Underreported and Internationalised Conflict Continues to Afflict the Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the least developed countries in the world, its human development index places it 188 out of 189 countries. Since December the situation has only become more unstable. The most recent wave of unrest began in the run up to the December national election in which President Faustin-Archange Touadera was up for re-election. Since then, rebel forces have been fighting Touadera’s government coalition who has received support from Russian and Rwandan forces as well as the UN-led peacekeeping mission MINUSCA.
Touadera’s government supposedly prevented an attempted coup led by former President Francois Bozize prior to the December 27th elections. This resulted in widespread violence throughout the country as Bozize-aligned rebel groups quickly mobilised against the central government. As a result, the second round of elections, scheduled for February 14th, were postponed until March 14th. In the interim, anti-government rebels gained control of large swaths of territory in the CAR as the Bangui has struggled to maintain a stable security situation. The primary guarantors of security in the country are neither the government or MINUSCA, instead a large contingent of Russian forces and military contractors have provided security for Touadera’s regime.
The Russian element is not new. Since 2016 Mr. Touadera has relied on Russian security services and mercenaries to act as his security detail and bolster the country’s armed forces. The PMC Wagner Group has conducted special ops for Touadera’s government as the CAR forces lack both training and equipment. It is thought that there are upwards of 1,000 Russian personnel in the CAR, 300 of whom have arrived since December according to a CAR government spokesperson. Further shipments of heavy weapons have continued to arrive to support the troops on the ground.
In exchange for weapons and security services, Bangui has granted business permits to Russian owned firms. Their Russian owners are not strangers to controversy. Yevgeny Prigozhan has both a mining company—Lobaye Invest—and a security firm—Sewa Security Services—registered in the CAR. Mr. Prigozhan is known predominately for his close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin and for being indicted by the United States for interference in the 2016 presidential election. The CAR has had difficulty in selling its natural resources to international buyers because of its unstable security situation and because the vast majority of its precious diamonds are considered untouchable blood diamonds. By going through Russian intermediaries, the government hopes to find a rare source of income.
While Russians have been serving alongside government forces for the past five years, the deployment of Rwandan troops adds a regional element to the conflict. Intrastate conflict in the CAR has traditionally been limited to non-state actors and rebel groups fighting the central government, but now Rwanda’s involvement has the potential to internationalise the conflict. Rwanda announced the deployment of troops in response to Bozize-allied rebels attacking Rwandan troops operating under MINUSCA.
Unusually, France has not taken significant action. As the colonial power, France has a long history of intervention in central Africa. Most notably, French President Giscard d’Estaing supported Jean-Bedel Bokassa’s tenure as president then emperor until, even by Bokassa’s own standards, his reign became too violent. This led to France intervening with Operation Barracuda in 1979 which installed David Dacko as president. Since 1979 France has frequently intervened on behalf of successive regimes with the most recent intervention coming in 2013.
Operation Sangaris was launched in 2013 and helped bring an end to the civil war. It concluded in 2016 with the national elections in which Touadera was elected.
Despite a plethora of foreign actors in the country it has rarely appeared that any have addressed the underlying causes of violence in the ethnically diverse country. Thus be it French or Russian-backed intervention, their military presence has only been a bandage for an institutionally weak state.
The sectarian divides are evident once again as Bozize has used rebels to gain power once again. Throughout early February it appeared that he may well succeed, but since February 16th, Russian trained CAR-soldiers and Russian mercenaries have been on a successful offensive. The FACA—Forces Armées Centrafricaine—have regained previously rebel-held towns. On the 17th, the town of Bambari saw heavy fighting before coming back under government control. Then on 20th, the western city of Bozoum was liberated from rebel forces which had controlled the city since December. Clearly, the joint Russo-Central African offensive is achieving its goals of re-establishing the legitimacy of Toudera’s government.
Aside from making strategic military gains, a civilian convoy from neighbouring Cameroon arrived in Bangui delivering much needed supplies to the capital. This was after nearly two months during which rebels had blocked the road between Bangui and Cameroon. Additionally, the convoy arrived from Russia with love and a hint of geopolitical opportunism. As the trucks rolled through Bangui, they proudly carried the flags of both Russia and the CAR.
With Russian assistance, Touadera has survived despite the uncertainty of the situation just a few weeks ago. Furthermore, it appears that his government has found an eager ally in Russia. Simultaneously, France’s has remained uninvolved, seemingly content to allow Russia to take the lead on security matters in the country. Whether that will change remains to be seen, but temporarily Touadera and the people of the CAR have found an ally in Russia.
Image courtesy of Tatiana Mossot via Wikimedia, ©2015, some rights reserved.
