The African nation where Prigozhin’s Wagner Group has been ‘perfecting a nightmarish blueprint for state capture’
The Wagner Group is responsible for a raft of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to a new investigative report.
The group had been spearheading Russian attacks in parts of Ukraine before appearing to turn on the Kremlin after falling out with the Russian military over the conduct of the war.
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Warning: The story below contains references to torture techniques
Washington based anti-corruption organisation The Sentry has found that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group has been “perfecting a nightmarish blueprint for state capture” in the CAR to enable it to plunder the country’s national resources, particularly gold and diamonds.
Over the past five years, soldiers and militiamen have reportedly undergone Wagner training that has involved “ultraviolent” techniques of torture and killing, including how to cut fingers and legs, remove nails, strangle, throw fuel and burn people alive.
In close cooperation with CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the Wagner Group has significant control over the nation’s political and military leadership, as well as huge sway over its economy.
The report also found that part of Wagner’s training involved “sweeping” or “cleansing” which sources in the Central African military said meant killing everyone, including women and children.
Wagner mercenaries pictured in Mali. Pic: AP
One military source explained: “We kill villagers only, we bury them, or we throw them in the bush.”
A member of the presidential guard discussing the training he received said: “It was a Russian instructor who gave the training … it included commando training, interrogation, aggressive techniques, torture, violence.”
The training can last anywhere between one and six months and involves firearms training, hand-to-hand combat, and espionage, interrogation, and torture techniques, according to the report.
Taking advantage of President Touadera’s ever-increasing need for security and protection, Wagner has tightened its grip on the CAR’s economic resources and constructed a transnational network of shadowy companies and operations stretching from Madagascar, Cameroon, and Sudan all the way back to Moscow.
While Wagner commanders and President Touadéra have justified the group’s presence as a means to hunt down armed rebel groups to protect the regime, The Sentry found that Wagner has taken command and control of government armed forces.
Yevgeny Prigozhin
It has then gone on to order them to execute “cleansing” campaigns to massacre entire communities that might get in the way of the group’s extraction operations.
Soldiers involved in these activities said that Wagner’s intention is to create terror and instil fear, not only among rebels but across the population at large and even among the soldiers and militiamen under its control.
When the group first arrived in early 2018, the CAR had undergone decades of deadly crises that the UN and Western countries had failed to adequately address.
Wagner took advantage of this and has, in just few years and with relatively few personnel, become one of the most powerful forces in the CAR.
Its activities in the CAR are just one aspect of the private army’s operations on the continent, which span numerous countries across Africa including Libya, Sudan, Mali, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Burkina Faso.
Further afield they are also known to have an extensive presence in Syria.
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What happens to Prigozhin and his private army next
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra
Mining companies affiliated with Wagner, primarily Lobaye Invest, Midas Ressources, and Diamville, have been granted mining licences and export authorisations, allowing the group to use its transnational networks across Africa to help set up industrial-scale gold production, according to the report.
It is also believed that Russia delivered heavy military equipment that had not previously appeared in the CAR conflict, including combat helicopters, aircraft, ground vehicles, reconnaissance drones, and heavy weapons including 14.5 mm heavy machine guns.
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The report even alleges that Wagner has been using landmines in CAR.
The UN Panel of Experts on CAR noted that “deliveries of materiel in support of state security forces were observed at a pace unprecedented since the establishment of the arms embargo in 2013.”
Nathalia Dukhan, Senior Investigator and head of the Wagner programme at The Sentry, said: “The Central African Republic has become Wagner Group’s laboratory of terror.
“With a limited number of military personnel and the active support of President Touadéra, Wagner has managed in just five years to infiltrate and control CAR’s military chain of command, as well as the country’s political and economic systems.
“Russia has revealed its plan for psychological warfare and domination – a truly new kind of ultraviolent colonialism.
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Wagner mutiny: The impact on Ukraine
“Without urgent and coordinated global action to counter this threat, Wagner’s predatory terrorist network will continue to spread and sow devastation wherever it takes root.”
The report urges the US, UK, EU, Canada, Japan and other nations and jurisdictions to widen the scope of sanctions against the group and declare Wagner a terrorist organisation.
The Sentry is an investigative and policy organisation that says it seeks to “disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy”.
A police officer has been injured after a night of violent protests outside an asylum hotel in Dublin – with six arrests made.
Bricks were thrown and fireworks were discharged outside the Citywest Hotel – with glass bottles used as missiles and a police van set on fire.
A Garda helicopter was also targeted with lasers, and the police service says some of those on the streets were seen carrying garden forks.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Commissioner Justin Kelly added: “This was obviously not a peaceful protest. The actions this evening can only be described as thuggery. This was a mob intent on violence.
“We will now begin the process of identifying those who committed crimes and we will bring those involved in this violence to justice.”
It is the second night of demonstrations after an alleged sexual assault in its vicinity in the early hours of Monday morning.
Some of the crowd threw stones and other missiles at the public order officers as they moved the protesters back – and water cannon was deployed at the scene.
A line of officers was preventing the protesters from approaching the hotel.
Police officers block protesters outside the hotel. Pic: PA
‘Those involved will be brought to justice’
Ireland’s premier, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, paid tribute to the officers who were on the frontline of the protests.
“There can be no justification for the vile abuse against them, or the attempted assaults and attacks on members of the force that will shock all right-thinking people,” he said.
Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said those involved in the violence will be brought to justice.
“The scenes of public disorder we have witnessed at Citywest must be condemned,” he said.
“People threw missiles at Gardai, threw fireworks at them and set a Garda vehicle on fire.
“This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the Gardai.
“Those involved will be brought to justice.”
‘No excuse’ for violence
The minister said a man had been arrested and had appeared in court in relation to the alleged assault in the vicinity of the hotel.
He added: “While I am not in a position to comment any further on this criminal investigation, I have been advised that there is no ongoing threat to public safety in the area.”
He said attacks on officers would “not be tolerated”, adding: “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.
“There is no excuse for the scenes we have witnessed.”
The demonstration on Monday night passed without a significant incident.
It comes two years after anti-immigrant demonstrators triggered a major riot in the centre of Dublin after three young children were stabbed.
A police van has been set on fire and missiles have been thrown at officers as protesters gathered outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Dublin.
It is the second night of demonstrations outside the Citywest Hotel after an alleged sexual assault in its vicinity in the early hours of Monday morning.
A large crowd has gathered in the area and members of the Garda’s public order unit have been deployed.
Footage from the scene showed a Garda vehicle on fire as well as several protesters displaying Irish flags.
Many protesters carried Republic of Ireland flags
Some of the crowd threw stones and other missiles at the public order officers as they moved the protesters back.
A Garda helicopter hovered overhead and a water cannon was deployed on the scene.
Ireland’s justice minister, Jim O’Callaghan, said those involved will be brought to justice.
“The scenes of public disorder we have witnessed at Citywest tonight must be condemned,” he said.
“People threw missiles at Gardai, threw fireworks at them and set a Garda vehicle on fire.
“This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the Gardai.
“Those involved will be brought to justice.”
The minister said a man had been arrested and had appeared in court in relation to the alleged assault in the vicinity of the hotel.
He added: “While I am not in a position to comment any further on this criminal investigation, I have been advised that there is no ongoing threat to public safety in the area.
He said attacks on gardai will “not be tolerated”, adding: “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.
“There is no excuse for the scenes we have witnessed tonight.”
It was the second night of protest outside the hotel, which is being used as state accommodation for people seeking international protection. The demonstration on Monday night passed without a significant incident.
It comes two years after anti-immigrant demonstrators triggered a major riot in the centre of Dublin after three young children were stabbed.
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There are no plans for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet in person in the near future, according to a White House official.
The presidents last week agreed to meet in Budapest after a phone call Mr Trump called “extremely frank and trustful”.
The US leader suggested it was possible it could happen within a fortnight, though no date was set.
However, it appears that’s now off the table – and there are fears the meeting could be shelved altogether due to Russia‘s rigid stance on the Ukraine war.
The White House official, speaking to Sky’s US partner network NBC, said secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had spoken on Tuesday.
The call was described as “productive” but the official added there was no plan for the presidents to meet “in the immediate future”.
The last Trump-Putin meeting was in Alaska in August, but it ended without any meaningful progress towards a ceasefire.
The Budapest plan was announced shortly before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington last Friday to try to get approval for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
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Why Tomahawks are off the table
Mr Zelenskyy accused the Russian leader of acting out of fear Ukraine could get the green light and the ability to hit targets far deeper into Russia.
In his nightly address on Tuesday, he said Russia “almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy” after it became clear Mr Trump had backed away from any decision on the Tomahawks.
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Professor Michael Clarke answers your questions on the Ukraine war.
Two US officials told Reuters that plans for the Budapest meeting had stalled over Russia’s insistence any peace deal must give it control of all of the Donbas region.
Those terms are said to have been reiterated over the weekend in a private communique known as a “no paper”.
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The Kremlin’s refusal to budge effectively rejects Mr Trump’s latest assessment that the frontlines should be frozen as they are.
The president shifted position last week after previously telling the UN General Assembly that Ukraine could win back all the land it has lost.
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Ukraine and European nations issued a joint statement on Tuesday insisting “international borders must not be changed by force” and accusing Russia of “stalling tactics”.
But, in an apparent effort to keep the US leader onside, it added: “We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
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Trump: ‘We can end this war quickly’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave the impression his country was in no rush to arrange another Trump-Putin meeting, saying on Tuesday “preparation is needed, serious preparation”.
Such talk is likely to increase concerns Russia does not want to stop fighting and is “playing” President Trump – all while continuing to launch drone barrages at Ukrainian cities.
Russia currently holds about a fifth of Ukraine after its invasion in February in 2022. It also annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Meanwhile, NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte is travelling to Washington to meet with President Trump on Wednesday.
He will “discuss various aspects related to NATO’s support to Ukraine and to the US-led efforts towards lasting peace”, an official for the alliance said.
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