The last French troops deployed in the Central African Republic left the country on Thursday following a cooling in relations caused by closer ties between Bangui and Moscow. The CAR, which has been in the grip of a civil war since 2013, uses the Russian Wagner militia, which Paris accuses of abuses against civilians and “predation” of resources.
Forty-seven troops from a logistical support unit left Bangui airport aboard a C-130 transporter aircraft, becoming the last of a 130-person French contingent to leave the troubled country.
France dispatched up to 1,600 troops to help stabilise the country after a coup in 2013 unleashed a civil war along sectarian lines.
The operation, named Sangaris, was France’s seventh military intervention in the Central African Republic (CAR) since the country gained independence in 1960.
It wound up in October 2016 after elections, leaving a residual French presence.
Russian military presence
Over the last few years, friction has grown between France and CAR over a mounting Russian military presence.
In December 2020, President Faustin Archange Touadera brought in Russian paramilitaries to help him fend off rebel groups advancing on the capital.
The CAR describes the Russians as military advisers but France, the United Nations (UN) and others say they are mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner group, who have been linked with atrocities and looting of resources.
Paris last year decided to suspend military cooperation with Bangui, deeming it complicit in an anti-French campaign allegedly steered by Russia.
‘Conditions no longer appropriate’
“France decided that the conditions were no longer appropriate for us to continue working for the benefit of the Central African armed forces,” General Francois-Xavier Mabin, commander of French forces in Gabon, told French news agency AFP.
French troops in the CAR, stationed at Bangui airport’s M’Poko base, have provided logistics for the European Union Training Mission and a contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Earlier this year Paris withdrew the last of its troops from Mali.
They had been deployed since 2013 to help the country fight a jihadist insurgency.
Relations between France and Mali plummeted after the military seized power in Bamako in August 2020 and eventually brought in Russian mercenaries.
CAR ranks among the poorest and most unstable countries in the world. Swathes of territory lie in the hands of rebel groups that trace their roots to the 2013 conflict.
(with AFP)