AFP, LIBREVILLE
The Central African Republic (CAR) has become an organized crime hub due to corruption, the state’s fragility and its alliances with criminal networks, a new report said yesterday.The report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) highlighted in particular the role played in the unstable, mineral-rich country by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group.In the face of the long-standing instability, CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera has come to rely more on Wagner mercenaries, who benefit in return from lucrative contracts in the gold, diamond and logging industries.
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera, sitting, takes the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony in Bangui on March 30.
“High-ranking political and military figures, co-opted criminal actors and transnational organized crime groups have aligned to extract profits by consolidating control over key criminal markets,” said report author Nathalia Dukhan, the head of the non-governmental organization’s Central Africa Observatory.“The past five years have seen criminal activity diversify, integrate and escalate across the most lucrative economic sectors and resource types, unchecked by law enforcement and further activated by the CAR presidential circle and its foreign partners,” Dukhan said.
