Last French troops leave Central African Republic

Bangui, Central African Republic (AFP):

The last French troops deployed in the Central African Republic left on Thursday following a chill in relations caused by reservations against the activities and interests of France in its former colonies as well as closer ties between Bangui and Moscow.

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 formerly colonized country in crisis.

France, the former colonial power, had dispatched up to 1,600 troops to protect its interests in the region and ‘restore order’ after a coup in 2013 unleashed a civil war along ethnic and religious divides.

The operation, named Sangaris, was France’s seventh military intervention in the CAR since the country gained independence in 1960.

It wound up in October 2016 after elections, leaving a residual French contingent.

Over the last few years, friction has grown between France and CAR over active French intervention in local politics and a mounting Russian military presence.

In 2018 Moscow sent ‘instructors’ to the country, and in 2020 followed this with hundreds of paramilitaries to help President Faustin Archange Touadera defeat rebels advancing on the capital.

However, France claims that the Russians are mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner group. The group has in the past been linked with atrocities and looting of resources elsewhere in Africa.

Paris last year decided to suspend military cooperation, deeming Bangui complicit in what was seen as an ‘anti-French’ campaign allegedly steered by Russia.

“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, the commander of the MISLOG logistical force stated.

Deadly fighting 

“It is with great regret that we note this unilateral withdrawal,” said Fidele Gouandjika, special adviser to President Touadera.

“Today we have a battle-hardened army — thank you, France, which has been training and equipping it for 62 years,” he said, adding: “Now we are going to do (it) with Wagner.”

Roland Marchal, a researcher at the Sciences Po school in Paris, called the French pullout a “very strong sign of discontent.”

But “from a military point of view, it won’t change much because the scope of the mission became more and more restricted,” he said.

Earlier this year Paris withdrew the last of its troops from former colony Mali.

They had been deployed since 2013 to help the country fight an insurgency by militants vying for an ‘Islamic state.’

Relations between France and Mali plummeted after the military seized power in Bamako in August 2020 and eventually brought in Russian paramilitaries.

CAR ranks among the poorest and most unstable countries in the world, and continues to bear the scars of a rapacious colonial rule under France, followed by a traumatic civil war.

Sporadic violence continues and swathes of territory lie in the hands of rebel groups, while civilians continue to pay a high price.