Central African Republic: "tacit agreement" between a sugar group and rebels, denounces an NGO - France 24

Libreville (AFP)

A subsidiary of the French group Castel has provided financial support for several years to armed groups in the Central African Republic in exchange for securing a factory, says a report published Wednesday by the NGO The Sentry evoking a "tacit agreement", denied by the company.

According to the American NGO, specialized in tracking dirty money, the Sucrerie Africaine de Centrafrique (Sucaf RCA), a subsidiary of the Organization, Management and Development Company of Food and Agricultural Industries (Somdiaa), it- even 87% controlled by the wine giant Castel, has "negotiated a security arrangement" with in particular the Unit for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), an armed group accused of abuses, to "secure the factory and the fields of cane sugar "and" attempt to protect the monopoly of the company ".

In return, Sucaf RCA set up a "sophisticated and informal system to finance armed militias through direct and indirect cash payments, as well as in-kind support in the form of vehicle maintenance and fuel supply." , according to The Sentry.

"To our knowledge, there is no arrangement made by the management of Sucaf RCA and no support of any kind has been provided," Alexandre Vilgrain, president of Somdiaa, responded to AFP.

When questioned, the Castel group did not respond to AFP's requests.

- Attack on displaced people -

The Central African Republic, the second least developed country in the world according to the UN, has been plunged since 2013 into a serious politico-military crisis.

Following a civil war, whole swathes of territory came under the control of rebel groups who grabbed its resources.

The Sucaf RCA refinery and the 5,137 hectares of sugar cane plantation are located in Ngakobo, 400 km east of the capital Bangui, in the Ouaka prefecture, controlled from late 2014 to early 2021 by the UPC, one of the main armed groups in the country.

According to The Sentry, UPC leader Ali Darassa and then number two, Hassan Bouba, the main beneficiaries of this "tacit agreement" with Sucaf RCA, are responsible for the attack on a camp for displaced people. in November 2018 in Alindao, which resulted in the deaths of at least 112 people, including 19 children.

The head of the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) Ali Darassa (c) surrounded by his close guard in Bokolobo, near Bambari, March 16, 2019 FLORENT VERGNES AFP / Archives

Internal security reports, collected by The Sentry and consulted by AFP, show that the Somdiaa leadership in Paris was informed of the abuses committed by armed groups in the Ouaka prefecture.

- Payments -

In exchange for securing the Ngakobo site, Ali Darassa and Hassan Bouba received around ten thousand euros per year between 2014 and 2021, says the NGO.

UPC members stationed at the factory premises were also paid by Sucaf RCA, according to interviews by The Sentry with company employees and contractors, as well as UPC men. .

The armed group has also set up roadblocks.

Sucaf RCA and its subcontractors had to pay taxes for each truck that connected Ngakobo and the capital Bangui, according to The Sentry, who says the system has been a major source of income for the UPC.

"There was no agreement, no funding made available to us every month," Hassan Bouba, current Minister of Livestock, denied to AFP.

To "protect the company's monopoly" on the distribution of sugar in several provinces of the country, Sucaf RCA has, according to the report, obtained the support of the UPC and other armed groups present in the northwest. the country, "notably through the forced seizure of contraband sugar" from neighboring Sudan.

According to The Sentry, these rebels received commissions on each seizure.

"The seized sugar was discreetly unloaded the night before being repackaged in sugar bags from Sucaf RCA to be then sold to wholesalers," recounts The Sentry.

This security arrangement, concludes the investigation, "continued until March 2021", when members of the UPC were driven from the area by a counter-offensive by the Central African armed forces as well as Russian paramilitaries.

© 2021 AFP