Highlights: Two surveys published in parallel show how the Wagner group manages to export timber from the Central African Republic. In 2022, the company was the seventh largest exporter of Central African wood to the European Union: it sold 465 m3 of sapelli wood. The company changed its name because it was exposed, which put a strain on its business. It is now targeting markets with more flexible rules, in Asia and the Gulf countries. It also has the effect of forcing local Pygmy populations to leave their ancestral lands.

While the European Council approved this Tuesday morning the new regulation against products from deforestation, two surveys published in parallel show how the Wagner Group...

How the Wagner Group conducts timber trafficking in the Central African Republic

Logs (illustration image). Getty Images

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

While the European Council approved this Tuesday morning the new regulation against products from deforestation, two surveys published in parallel show how the Wagner group manages to export, including in Europe, timber from the Central African Republic.

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Brown-red species of sapelli, a fine Central African wood used in carpentry, have been sold in Denmark and France by the company Bois rouge, says the British organization Earthsight, which documents environmental crimes. In 2022, the company was the seventh largest exporter of Central African wood to the European Union: it sold 465 m3 of sapelli wood.

Bois rouge's ties to Wagner were revealed in an international investigation last July, but since then the company has adapted. In December, it changed its name to Wood International Group, a company still based in Bangui that inherited Bois Rouge's permits and tax and customs number, according to CBS. With the organizations All Eyes on Wagner and Dossier Center, the Americanchain followed the path of a cargo of wood, from the forests of Lobaye to the Cameroonian port of Douala.

The company changed its name because it was exposed, which put a strain on its business. She separated from the then director because the idea is to continue her business while being hidden. Their entire logistics circuit was also reviewed and they placed screens between them and the arrival in Cameroon, "says Lou, of All Eyes on Wagner.

The intensive exploitation carried out by Bois Rouge contravenes European regulations. That's why the company is now targeting markets with more flexible rules, in Asia and the Gulf countries. It also has the effect of forcing local Pygmy populations to leave their ancestral lands.

The logs pass through the group's sawmill in Boda, before heading to Camp Kassaï, a Central African military center used as a storage and transit site, according to investigators. Logistics are provided by contracting companies linked to the Wagner Group; the buyer is not necessarily aware that he is doing business with the Prigozhin galaxy.

Wood International Group would potentially earn €2 million per year by exporting Central African timber. According to investigators, he does not currently pay taxes to the Central African government.

How the Wagner Group conducts timber trafficking in the Central African Republic

How the Wagner Group conducts timber trafficking in the Central African Republic

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