Russian group Wagner reportedly controls part of RCA troops

New recruits of the Central African Armed Forces in Berengo on August 4, 2018. AFP - FLORENT VERGNES

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The European External Action Service wrote a 35-page report dated November 15 and 22 for the version to which RFI was able to access.

The action of the mercenaries of the Wagner group (accused in particular of serious human rights violations) and the entrism of Russia in decision-making in Bangui calls into question the action of the EU in CAR where its However, military instructors participated in the training of 4,000 soldiers.

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With our correspondent in Brussels,

An explosive report from European diplomacy on the Central African Republic and the strategic and political environment for the missions that the EU has just surfaced in Brussels. He claims that the mercenaries of

have taken over the command of part of the Central African troops, in particular units formed by the European Union, which has been deploying military instructors since July 2016 for the benefit of the Central African armed forces.

Most of the units of the Central African armed forces currently deployed “ 

 ” of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group. This is in particular the case of the 7th Territorial Infantry Battalion, yet trained by the instructors of the European military training mission EUTM-RCA. 

According to the report of the European External Action Service, Russia plays an " 

 " role. First, there is the presence of around 2,600 mercenaries from the Wagner group who also took charge of the training of certain Central African military units. There is also the intensification of the Russian presence " 

", the conduct of disinformation campaigns and finally its economic involvement in customs, mines and more generally " 

 ".

Perhaps this report was the subject of a cleverly orchestrated leak to accompany the legal motivations of the sanctions decided by the Union against the Wagner group.

Still, the conclusion of the report was confirmed this Tuesday evening by the services of Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy: if it does not succeed in weakening the influence of Russia and the Wagner group, the Union could review the mandate of its instructors or even withdraw them altogether from the Central African Republic.

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• Central African Republic