In the Central African Republic, the Hired Guns Wear Out Their Welcome
NEED TO KNOW
In the Central African Republic, the Hired Guns Wear Out Their Welcome
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Earlier this month, Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR) saw its streets filled with thousands of protesters. They were demonstrating against President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s plans to run for a third term.
In a twist, however, the anger was also directed at Russian-led mercenaries from the Wagner Group: Its forces, demonstrators say, are illegally keeping the president in power.
“We’re here to say no to a third term for Faustin Archange Touadéra,” protester Justin Winè, a member of the opposition, told the Independent. “But more than that, we want to protect our sovereignty, which Touadéra and Wagner have trampled upon.”
“The Wagner have raped and killed (with impunity),” he added. “To put an end to their reign, Touadéra must go,” he said.
The Wagner Group, now also called the Africa Corps, arrived in 2018 after years of conflict between the government and rebel groups in the country to help the president restore order. It was one of their first African operations.
Since gaining independence from France in 1960, CAR, one of the poorest countries in the world, has experienced decades of violence and instability, including six coups. Then, in 2013, the country saw an explosion of fighting when predominantly Muslim Séléka rebels seized power, taking over Bangui, and ousted President François Bozizé from office. Christian Anti-balaka militias fought back, with mobs burning mosques and decapitating and dismembering Muslims.
The violence went on sporadically, intensifying and spreading in 2018 after a period of relative calm as armed groups battled over areas rich with gold, diamonds, uranium, and other minerals. Thousands died in the fighting, with hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict in the country of 5 million.
Wagner forces prevented those groups from taking control of Bangui in 2021 – after six out of 14 armed groups vying for control backed out of a 2019 peace agreement.
Since then, the Russian mercenaries have served as personal bodyguards for Touadéra, playing a key role in propping him up in the guise of helping him defeat rebel groups: The group not only wrote the text of the constitutional referendum in July 2023 that would extend his power indefinitely, but helped him win it with 95 percent of the vote due to a Russian disinformation campaign, according to an investigation by Le Monde.
“The population was manipulated,” said Ephrem Yalike-Ngonzo, a journalist from CAR who was paid to help the Russian influence operation, in an interview with the newspaper.
Now, some in CAR are getting increasingly fed up and losing their fear of speaking out, say analysts.
“The recent wave of protests across the Central African Republic reflects growing public outrage at the continued presence and influence of Russian mercenaries, particularly the Wagner Group,” wrote the Robert Lansing Institute, a think tank. “Sparked by reports of arbitrary killings, sexual violence, and looting by Wagner fighters, these demonstrations highlight a broader crisis: The normalization of war crimes and impunity for violence against civilians.”
The think tank noted how Wagner’s tactics in CAR closely mirror its operations in Mali, Sudan, and Libya. “These parallels reveal a deliberate pattern of coercive violence used to maintain influence, extract resources, and enforce political loyalty to Moscow’s geopolitical goals,” it added.
Analysts say that although Wagner mercenaries were deployed to CAR ostensibly to train the army and restore and protect the peace, they were actually there to use the country as a springboard for other operations in Africa and to gain access to the country’s mineral wealth and commodities.
For example, analysts say Wagner removed civilian communities around gold mines in Ndassima, Bria, and Koki, and then mined and profited through shell companies tied to Russian entities in CAR, such as Lobaye Invest and Midas Ressources.
At the same time, United Nations officials, NGOs, analysts and journalists say they have committed human rights abuses, massacred civilians in rebel-held areas, carried out extra-judicial executions, used mass rape as a weapon of war, and forcibly displaced entire communities near mineral mines.
Still, Wagner forces are planning for the long term. They advise the government, protect the capital and the president, and are currently constructing a base in CAR, intended to host 10,000 troops by 2030.
They are also deepening their connection with the local population. People in CAR now learn Russian after the government made it the third official language after French and Sango, shop in Russian stores, and hail the Wagner Group for bringing much of the country back under government control and stability to Bangui.
“We had nothing. We were cut off from everything. Even the French had abandoned us,” a young soldier in the national army told the Economist. “But the Russians … they have strong fighters. They are the ones who helped us.”
Still, the violence often happens in remote areas and isn’t reported by a national media cowed and co-opted by the government and Wagner officials. However, recently, two soldiers who disappeared after being detained in January by Wagner mercenaries set off demonstrations that garnered the notice of the wider public.
As the Associated Press explained, residents in the Obo region have long feared the rebel groups that Russian mercenaries and the soldiers’ militias have fought. But they now feel similar outrage toward the mercenaries.
“We are outraged to understand the Russians’ idea to train the Azande Ani Kpi Gbe militiamen was to control their movement and decapitate them,” said Robert Mboli, an Obo resident, referring to the disappeared soldiers’ militia. “We will demonstrate until they explain what they blame them for.”
Meanwhile, the protests in Bangui go on, organized by the opposition in anticipation of elections in December. The opposition hopes to ride a growing wave of anti-government sentiment as well as complaints over daily-life issues: Protesters in April explained those with signs that read, “No water, no electricity.”
Still, the opposition faces an uphill battle.
Political and trade union organizations close to the government have been urging the public not to protest, while some social media accounts have spread false information, claiming that protest organizers had been arrested “red-handed distributing grenades to street children,” reported Agence France-Presse.
“They want to silence the population,” said Sam, 39, an unaffiliated voter, at the protests, adding that local officials were reporting opponents to the government. “(But) I’d rather die here than wait at home for arrest.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
China Warns Trade Partners: No Trade Deals With US That Hurt Us
CHINA
China warned countries not to make trade deals with the United States that could harm China’s economy, a response to reports that the US is pressuring its trading partners to restrict commerce with Beijing in return for tariff exemptions, wrote the Wall Street Journal.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement, warning that China will respond “resolutely” to such behavior and emphasizing the country’s strong capability to protect its own rights and interests.
In early April, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs against almost all the US’ trading partners, before halting most tariffs for 90 days after global markets responded negatively. As a result, many nations are set to negotiate with the US, including Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, on trading terms, according to the Associated Press.
China was the big exception – Trump raised tariffs to 145 percent after China raised duties on its US imports.
To date, no negotiations have been set between the US and China.
While the Trump administration reportedly asked countries to limit their trade with China and to take a unified approach toward the country, China has been making attempts to boost its trade relations with Southeast Asia, South America, and Europe.
China’s Commerce Ministry also said that China is open to working together with other countries to face trade challenges and oppose “economic bullying.”
“If international trade regresses to the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, all countries will end up as victims,” the Ministry said.
Burkina Faso Coup Leader Says He Prevented New Coup
BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso’s military junta said it averted a “major plot” to overthrow junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, alleging the perpetrators were operating from neighboring Ivory Coast, BBC reported.
According to Security Minister Mahamadou Sana, current and former soldiers worked with “terrorist leaders” to plot a coup that involved attacking the presidential palace on April 16, according to France 24.
Burkina Faso has been run by a military junta since 2022, when Traoré led a coup that brought him to power.
The failed coup is the latest attempt to remove Traoré. Sana said the plotters tried to win army officers’ support by involving Burkinabe religious and tribal leaders.
A dozen military personnel, including two officers, were arrested last week for attempting to “destabilize” the government, France 24 wrote.
While Ivory Coast has yet to comment on the accusations, Traoré has repeatedly accused the country of sheltering his enemies in exile and claimed last year that it provided a “center of operations” for opponents to destabilize Burkina Faso.
Traoré’s government, meanwhile, is also accused of repression: Civil rights groups say the junta silences dissent and is responsible for an increase in extrajudicial arrests, particularly of individuals deemed hostile to the junta.
While Traoré had promised to bring back security in the country, Burkina Faso continues to face ongoing jihadist violence from groups linked to Islamic State or al Qaeda.
Over the past few years, Burkina Faso and its neighbors in the Sahel region, Niger and Mali, have broken away from the regional West African bloc, ECOWAS, and formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), cutting ties with former colonial power France and cozying up to Russia instead.
Myanmar’s Junta Extends Ceasefire With Rebels Following Devastating Quake
MYANMAR
Myanmar’s military government will extend a ceasefire it declared after last month’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake until the end of April, junta officials announced Tuesday, following calls by humanitarian groups and diplomats to ease relief efforts, Agence France-Presse reported.
The junta said the truce with the country’s various armed groups would be extended until April 30 “to continue the rebuilding and rehabilitation process with momentum,” but warned it would retaliate if rebels launched attacks.
Myanmar was struck by a devastating quake on March 28 that killed more than 3,700 people and left around two million in “critical need of assistance and protection,” according to the United Nations.
The junta initially declared a 20-day ceasefire shortly after the quake, with the original truce set to expire Wednesday.
However, conflict monitors and residents in affected areas reported that fighting continued on both sides despite the ceasefire, just after the quake.
Myanmar’s military has been battling ethnic armed groups across the country since its February 2021 coup, which overthrew civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Separately, China on Tuesday sent a team to monitor a separate ceasefire it had brokered between the junta and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic Chinese rebel group that captured key territory in northern Shan State last year, Reuters added.
Following talks in Kunming in January, both sides agreed to a truce, with China pledging to continue to push for peace.
DISCOVERIES
Zapping the Competition
Lightning usually spells doom for trees. One tropical species in Panama, however, welcomes it.
A new study found that the towering Dipteryx oleifera species doesn’t just survive lightning strikes, it actually thrives because of them.
“Seeing that there are trees that get struck by lightning and they’re fine was just mind-blowing,” Evan Gora, lead author and forest ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, explained in a statement.
For years, Gora and his team tracked 93 lightning-struck trees in Panama using a unique detection system for lightning. They reported that they found that all nine Dipteryx trees in the group survived, with only minor damage.
In contrast, 64 percent of the other species struck died within two years.
The researchers noted that surviving the zaps wasn’t just a matter of resilience: On average, each lightning strike zapped 9.2 neighboring trees, reducing competition for sunlight and space.
Even better, it fried about 78 percent of the parasitic vines, or lianas, that often sap nutrients and block light on the trees. The findings showed that Dipteryx trees grew about four meters taller than their closest neighbors – likely because lightning kept clearing the path for them.
“(This) data provides the first evidence that some trees benefit from being struck by lightning,” the authors wrote.
Or as Gora put it: “It’s better off for a Dipteryx oleifera tree to be struck than not.”
The team suspects that the species may have evolved to attract lightning: The trees are 30 percent taller and have 50 percent larger crowns than average trees – traits that make them more likely targets.
The team estimated that a single tree is struck every 56 years on average and can endure multiple hits across its centuries-long lifespan.
“My guess would be many of these individuals are hundreds, or maybe even more than 1,000 years old,” Gora told NPR.