Rusia entra en África a través de la República Centroafricana

Russia's New African Launch Pad: The Central African Republic

 By Max Seddon and Tom Wilson • OZY


The team of Russian journalists who flew into the Central African Republic (CAR) last month were on a mission to investigate Moscow’s growing role in one of the world’s poorest nations. Days after arriving, the three men were murdered by unknown assailants. Their local driver told CAR authorities that they were killed at a roadside checkpoint by turban-wearing men speaking Arabic or a similar language.

While the killings are still being investigated, the case highlights Russia’s increasing presence in the CAR, a country that has become a staging point for Moscow’s latest geopolitical ambition — a push into Africa. It has also raised questions about the nature of Russia’s involvement: The journalists were said by the publication who sent them to be looking into the CAR activities of a controversial Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin.

An influential backer of communism across Africa for decades, Moscow ceded influence to Western rivals after the collapse of the Soviet Union. More recently, China has made huge inroads, investing $220 billion in 2014 alone. Russia’s move into the CAR — and in several other African nations — suggests a new willingness to re-engage and make up for lost time.

“We are well behind everyone, but it’s temporary,” says Evgeny Korendyasov, a former ambassador to a number of African countries. “Now we are trying to correct that and use our competitive advantage when we can.”

Russia is intensifying its relationships in Africa, and CAR is one of their entry points. The government is weak, so it’s an easy target.

Thierry Vircoulon, Central Africa expert, International Crisis Group

So far this year Russia has struck military cooperation deals with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea and Mozambique. Others, including Nigeria and Angola, have agreed to buy arms from Moscow or are working with Russia to exploit mineral deposits. “We have the competitive advantage in the arms trade because we have a better cost-benefit ratio,” Korendyasov says. “The Africans like that better because it is more at the level they can afford.”

But nowhere is Russia’s recent entry more pronounced than in the CAR. Russia’s involvement in the country began in December when a team of military instructors and 170 “civilian advisers” arrived in Bangui to train the country’s army and presidential guard. Nine weapons shipments have arrived in the CAR capital since.

Though Faustin-Archange Touadéra, CAR president, has restored some semblance of government since taking power in 2016, 80 percent of the country is still controlled by more than a dozen rebel groups.

“Russia is intensifying its relationships in Africa, and CAR is one of their entry points,” says Thierry Vircoulon, a Central Africa expert with the International Crisis Group. “The government is weak, so it’s an easy target.”
After meeting President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg in June, Touadéra expressed hopes for “more active cooperation.” His national security adviser is a Russian, and Russians have formed part of his presidential guard.

The landlocked CAR consistently ranks at the bottom of the United Nations’ Human Development Index. Decades of fighting between different armed groups have stunted economic development, despite its rich natural resources. Large deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium have attracted foreign interest, but instability and violence mean few investments have succeeded.




Source Financial Times

The three murdered men, all freelance journalists, traveled to the CAR as part of a story for an investigative news outlet financed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a onetime Russian oligarch turned fierce critic of the Kremlin.

The publication says the reporters’ aim was to visit a gold mine in a rebel-held area they believed was operated by a company owned by Evgeny Prigozhin, a prominent Russian businessman. Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” for owning a company that provides the catering for lavish Kremlin banquets, was indicted in the United States this year for allegedly running an online “troll farm” that aims to sway voters in U.S. elections.

Prigozhin told a state news wire at the time that he was “completely not bothered” by the U.S. indictment. “The Americans are really impressionable people. They see what they want to see,” he says. “If they want to see the devil, let them see him.”

He is also reported by independent Russian media to have links to Wagner, the main private military contractor for the Russian army. The Russian military confirmed earlier this year that it sent “civilian instructors” to CAR.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in 2016 that Prigozhin had “extensive business dealings” with the Defense Ministry in Moscow and that a company with “significant ties to him” had a contract to build a military base near the Russia-Ukraine border. Last year, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Wagner for allegedly sending mercenaries to eastern Ukraine and Syria. Wagner’s men were among more than 100 people whom the Pentagon said died in an airstrike after they advanced on a U.S. base near Deir al-Zor in February. Russian mercenaries in Syria are reported to have secured deals from Damascus to take a cut of proceeds in exchange for capturing rebel-held oil fields — raising suspicions that the CAR may offer something similar.

“It’s a set formula for promoting your strategic interests in foreign countries through private business,” says Ilya Shumanov, deputy head of Transparency International’s Russia branch. “The logic is that you bind the leadership of the country you’re interested in with financial obligations and sort it out through diplomatic and back channels.”

Lewis Mudge, a senior Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch, says: “Everyone in CAR is saying that Wagner is there.” Attempts to contact Prigozhin were unsuccessful. We were unable to contact Wagner as the group’s existence is not officially recognized and it has no public representatives.

Korendyasov, the former ambassador, insists Russia was being singled out for criticism because it is late to the party, when Moscow’s interests are no different from anyone else’s. “The French are very jealous of our presence in the CAR,” he says. “Everyone wants resources in Africa.”

Soldados franceses acusados de abuso de menores en África

French minister calls on soldiers who sexually abused children to come clean
Jean-Yves Le Drian says peacekeepers who raped homeless children in Central African Republic have ‘sullied our flag’, as investigation continues
The Guardian
The French defence minister has appealed for any French peacekeeping soldiers guilty of raping or sexually assaulting children in the Central African Republic to come forward and give themselves up.



ean-Yves Le Drian told Le Journal de Dimanche that he had felt “disgust” and “betrayal” when he received a leaked UN report in July last year alleging that French soldiers dispatched to the country to restore order after a 2013 coup had raped and sexually assaulted starving and homeless children in exchange for food.

Le Drian said: “If someone has sullied our flag – because that’s what it is – he must say so right now, because it’s a betrayal of comrades, the image of France and the army’s mission.”

He added: “When a French soldier is on a mission, he is France.” He said: “If one of them has committed such acts, they must immediately give themselves in.”

The Guardian revealed last week that a senior United Nations aid worker had been suspended for disclosing to prosecutors an internal report on the sexual abuse of children by French peacekeeping troops in the CAR.

The alleged abuse took place as French peacekeeping troops were supposed to be protecting civilians at a centre for displaced people near the airport of the capital Bangui, between December 2013 — when the French military operation began — and June 2014.

UN rights investigators conducted an investigation into the abuse allegations in the spring of 2014, and Anders Kompass, a Swedish senior UN official, later passed the report to French authorities because he felt his superiors had failed to take action.


UN accused of 'reckless disregard' for allegations of peacekeeper child abuse
 Read more
The Guardian revealed that French authorities sent a letter of thanks to Kompass for the information.

The French defence minister Le Drian told Le Journal du Dimanche that he immediately gave the report to French court prosecutors, adding that an internal army investigation into the matter was conducted and finished in August.

“Naturally, it is available to the courts that are tasked with conducting the judicial inquiry,” he said.

Asked why the investigation opened by French prosecutors was still not finished nine months after the ministry received the leaked report, Le Drian said it was a “complex investigation”.

“Since the alleged events, most soldiers have left that theatre of operations, but that must not stop the courts from doing their job swiftly,” he said.

En la República Centroafricana, una granada china cuesta menos que una Coca Cola

Grenades Cheaper Than a Coke Menace Central African Republic


By Ilya Gridneff

(Bloomberg) -- As Captain Victor leads a team of Spanish special forces on a night patrol in the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui, one thing worries him most: Chinese-made hand grenades that sell for less than a soft drink.
“Locals use hand grenades because they are very cheap, they are cheaper than a can of Coke,” Victor, 29, said as he adjusted his helmet and night-vision goggles. He and other troops spoke on condition that their last names weren’t used because their military’s policy prohibited it.
Victor, who also served in Afghanistan, routinely leads a patrol of 13 Spanish special forces soldiers that are part of the 750 troops the European Union Force, known as EUFOR, deployed in April to protect the people of Bangui. The Central African Republic has been gripped by lawlessness since a mainly Muslim alliance of anti-government rebel militias known as Seleka overthrew Christian President Francois Bozize in March 2013. The takeover was marked by the widespread killing of civilians.
The Seleka government led by interim President Michel Djotodia resigned in January 2014 after a wave of international criticism that he failed to stop the violence between his forces and the mostly Christian militia known as anti-balaka. A transitional authority led by Catherine Samba-Panza took over and is supposed to organize elections by August. So far, it has failed to extend its authority beyond Bangui.
The country is divided between the anti-balaka militias, which describe themselves as village self-defense groups and whose name means anti-machete, in the west, and Seleka rebels that control the east, according to the United Nations. The conflict has disrupted gold and uranium exploration in the country, which is the world’s 12th-biggest diamond producer, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Kidnappings Continue

In Bangui, security remains a challenge. Anti-balaka elements last month kidnapped Sports Minister Armel Sayo, as well as UN staff member and a French aid worker, who was later freed.
Before they move out after dusk into the pitch-black streets because there’s no electricity, the Spanish troops equip themselves with infrared scopes, thermal imaging goggles and sound intensifying listening equipment.
“The main problem is criminality,” Victor said. “We can not say there are big organized groups, just small criminal groups, and they just try to steal because this is what they know.”
The Spanish carry out daily and nightly foot patrols along the border of two neighborhoods, known as “the 3rd” and “the 5th,” that have been wracked by violence and human rights abuses.

‘Happy Shooting’

“When Seleka came here they destroyed the area, when the anti-balaka came here they also destroyed the area,” Victor said. “So this is a no man’s land where criminals have come. There is no electricity here so it is pitch black.”
A patrol last week didn’t encounter any serious incidents and only heard a few gunshots in the distance that the soldiers described as “happy shooting.”
“A few days ago, we had a fire fight, but just a few shots and a few grenades. None of us was wounded,” Victor said. “Three of four of the locals were wounded, minor stuff, but probably because of their own hand grenades.”
Special forces Lieutenant Sergio said on previous missions in the Middle East, improvised explosive devices were the main concern, while in Bangui, the worry is from locals throwing hand grenades. People often carry the bombs as nonchalantly as Europeans hold mobile phones.
“There are a lot of Chinese grenades here you can buy easily,” he said. “A little boy will get one for you in a few hours from the market. People get drunk and become brave, beer is cheap. It’s an explosive mix.”

Defensive Grenades

In Bangui, one anti-balaka member said in an interview that a Chinese-made grenade would sell for as little as $1. At the meeting, the man, wearing a Christian cross around his neck, casually pulled one of the small black explosive balls from his leather satchel. It was for his defense, he said. As a safety measure, he’d wrapped sticky tape around the pin.
Chinese, Sudanese and European arms and ammunition have poured into Central African Republic from neighboring countries, the Brussels-based Conflict Armament Research consultancy said in a report last month.
Its investigators found vast quantities of cheap Chinese-made grenades throughout Central African Republic, some that were originally supplied to the Nepalese army, according to the group’s director of operations, Jonah Leff.
“It is not yet clear why the grenades are in such wide circulation and precisely how they were transferred to CAR,” he said in an e-mail. Hand grenades often sell for less than bullets for AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

Relative Peace

“The cheap price of the grenades most likely derives from the fact that the grenades were donated or at some point looted rather than delivered along a formal supply chain,” he said.
EUFOR officials say their patrols and the presence of French and UN troops have brought relative peace to Bangui. As evidence, they cite the reduction in the number of people sheltering them at a camp at the M’Poko airport for those who have fled their homes to 20,000 from 100,000.
France, the former colonial power, plans to reduce its force in Central African Republic to 800 from about of 2,000, President Francois Hollande announced on Jan. 14. Greater security responsibility will be handed over to the UN force, known by its acronym Minusca, that has about 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 police, according to its website.
In March, EUFOR intends to end its mission in Bangui and hand over responsibility to Minusca. The reduced French force will also have to shoulder the responsibility.
“We have done our job, in March it is up to the UN to continue it,” Victor said.

Suecia quiere mandar los tigres a la República Centroafricana

Suecia apoya enviar "grupos de batalla" de la UE a la República Centroafricana
EFE, Bruselas
El ministro sueco de Exteriores, Carl Bildt, apoyó hoy el envío de "grupos de batalla" de la Unión Europea (UE) a la República Centroafricana para desempeñar una "función de estabilización" en este país, en un momento en que los Veintiocho discuten enviar una misión militar a ese país.



El Parlamento de la R. Centroafricana comienza la sesión para elegir presidente

El ministro sueco de Exteriores, Carl Bildt, apoyó hoy el envío de "grupos de batalla" de la Unión Europea (UE) a la República Centroafricana para desempeñar una "función de estabilización" en este país, en un momento en que los Veintiocho discuten enviar una misión militar a ese país.
"Creo que deberíamos enviar los grupos de batalla. Fueron diseñados precisamente para este tipo de situaciones", dijo el ministro sueco a su llegada al Consejo de Exteriores de la UE que se celebra en Bruselas.
Aunque expresó su claro apoyo por esta opción, Bildt señaló que los ministros europeos "están abiertos también a otras posibilidades".
"Es importante que hagamos algo. Tenemos a los grupos de batalla y preparados", dijo Bildt, quien señaló que las tropas "no tendrían necesariamente un rol de combate, sino de estabilización".
Si finalmente la UE decide enviar una misión militar al país, el objetivo sería "dejar posteriormente el mando a las tropas de la ONU", señaló Bildt, quien añadió que los países africanos "son los que tienen la responsabilidad principal" para intervenir en el conflicto.
La misión europea serviría de apoyo a los aproximadamente 6.000 efectivos que tiene desplegados la misión internacional de la Unión Africana (MISCA) en la República Centroafricana, en crisis desde que una rebelión del grupo Séléka el pasado marzo degeneró meses después en enfrentamientos entre musulmanes y cristianos.
Bildt destacó que "se sabe muy poco" de la situación en el país y comparó el caso al de Sudán del Sur, "donde el Estado ha colapsado con graves consecuencias humanitarias".
Los ministros comunitarios esperan lograr hoy un acuerdo político para el envío de una misión europea, aunque los detalles y efectivos de los que contaría deben definirse más adelante.
Francia, que ya tiene a 1.600 soldados sobre el terreno, había apelado a la solidaridad europea para respaldar su misión.
La misión europea podría estar formada por unos 400 ó 600 militares y tener una duración de entre cuatro y seis meses, según avanzaron fuentes diplomáticas.
Países como Alemania, el Reino Unido, Bélgica, Polonia, Holanda y España (que ha enviado un avión de transporte y 60 militares) dan ya apoyo logístico a la operación francesa, aunque está por ver cuáles y con qué efectivos participarían en la misión europea (Estonia ya ha anunciado que aportaría 55 soldados).
Para poner en marcha la misión, la UE esperará a recibir el aval del Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas.


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