Several hundred Wagner Group troops have this week arrived in the Central African Republic (CAR), ahead of a key referendum at the end of this month. The vote, proposed by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, concerns whether he can override CAR’s constitutional ban on running for a third term. Should he get his way, either Wagner or a Wagner-like entity will remain in CAR to provide security to his regime, a coup-proofing strategy followed by other African governments, including the military junta in Mali. Should Touadéra lose, it could mark the end for Wagner’s time in this restive African country.
The militia first arrived in CAR in 2018, deployed to help prop up the country’s regime. But following the aborted mutiny engineered by Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin at the end of last month, there are doubts about the group’s continued presence abroad, including in countries like CAR.
While some have described Wagner’s involvement in CAR as an example of “state capture”, wherein a small circle of individuals gain control over the organs of a country for criminal gain, the truth is that the relationship is one of co-dependence. Wagner needs CAR just as CAR needs Wagner.
Source link : https://unherd.com/newsroom/wagner-is-still-policing-putins-empire-in-africa/
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Publish date : 2023-07-18 03:00:00
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