2023-07-08 21:20:09
A spokesman for the presidency in the Central African Republic said that the exit of hundreds of fighters from the Russian private military group Wagner from the country comes within the framework of the rotation of forces, not a withdrawal.
The short-lived insurgency led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia last month raised questions regarding the future of the group’s vast network of military and commercial operations across the Central African Republic, other parts of Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Reports stated that large numbers of Wagner Group fighters have flown out of the Central African Republic recently, which has raised speculation regarding the group’s withdrawal from the country, as they have been helping the government suppress several rebellions since 2018.
But CAR presidential spokesman Albert Yaluk Mokbim said, “It is not a final departure, but rather a rotation.”
“Some have left and others will come,” he told a news conference in the capital, Bangui.
A military source told Archyde.com on condition of anonymity that several hundred Wagner fighters had left the country recently.
It is not yet clear how many fighters are still there. About 1,900 Russians, some from the Wagner Group, are believed to still work there.
Any restructuring of Wagner’s CAR operations would have major commercial implications.
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