Central African Republic: EU suspends training of soldiers and denounces Wagner’s stranglehold

On December 15, the training mission commander of theEuropean UnionEU in the Central African Republic (EUTM-RCA), the French general Jacques Langlade de Montgros, had announced to theFrance Media AgencyAFP the temporary suspension of this training due to the control exercised by Wagner’s mercenaries over the Central African Armed Forces (FACA).

Several hundred Russian paramilitaries, who have led a massive counter-offensive against the rebellion for more than a year alongside the army, have been accused in particular by theUnited NationsUN of human rights violations, just like the Central African soldiers and the rebels.

The first condition is to have the guarantee that the units we train are not employed by Wagner, but are employed within the sovereign framework of the employment of the national armed forces., declared Thursday in Bangui the French vice-admiral Hervé Bléjean, director general of the staff of theEuropean UnionEU (EMUE).

Asked about the conditions for a possible resumption of training for central african armed forcesFACA, he was speaking at a press conference just before a change of command ceremony for theEU training mission in the Central African RepublicEUTM-RCA from the hands of General Montgros to those of Belgian General Jacky Cabo.

Unarmed instructors

Moscow only officially recognizes the presence of 1135 unarmed instructors in this country in civil war since 2013.

Me, I’m not talking about Russian instructors, Assaulted Vice-Admiral Bléjean, continuing: what bothers us are the mercenaries […] who do not respect the republican values ​​which are advocated by the President of the Republic Central African Faustin Archange Touadera.

Under a blazing sun, and in the presence of the Head of State who had not attended the press conference, the flag ofEuropean UnionEU was exchanged by the two general officers at Camp Moana, base of theEU training missionEUTM adjoining Bangui airport.

” Wagner’s 2,500 mercenaries, some of whom are Russian, but not exclusively, cannot be equated with sovereign forces of Russia, they are mercenaries. »

Some 70 European instructors temporarily returned to their respective countries in mid-December. L’EU training missionEUTM, with another 230 soldiers at the end of 2021, had trained several thousand soldiers since 2016. There are currently around a hundred European soldiers who are currently concentrating on strategic advice to the army.

L’European UnionEU also sanctioned the Wagner group in mid-December as well as eight people and three companies linked to it for destabilizing actions in Ukraine and in several African countries.