2023-07-21 19:37:15
December 2020: Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR) is in turmoil. A coalition of armed groups threatens to storm it. In an emergency, the Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra calls on his Rwandan counterpart for help. The two countries are linked by a military cooperation agreement, signed a year earlier. Kigali responds favorably and sends about 1,000 soldiers who, alongside the mercenaries of the Russian company Wagner, end up repelling the offensive. The assailants retreated to the North, and Faustin-Archange Touadéra was saved.
If the role of Wagner in this sequence is known, that of the Rwandan forces is much less so. It was however decisive. The Rwandans did not stop at the suburbs of Bangui. With that of Wagner and the Central African army, their intervention according to Crisis Group in a note published on July 7, “license to liberate the main cities of the country”. Two and a half years later, although the country is still deeply divided, the Central African president is still in office.
An efficient army
Rwandans have thus been able to make themselves indispensable in maintaining peace in the CAR since 2014. First, within the UN force deployed in this country (Minusca) where, unlike many other foreign contingents, they have demonstrated their ability to fight and their respect for the populations with whom they have a good reputation. “With the Rwandans, things are square. They are disciplined, they are efficient and they behave correctly with us.testifies Pierre, a trader from PK10, a district of Bangui.
Since December 2020, the Rwandan presence has been supplemented by a contingent deployed under the bilateral military cooperation agreement. It should also ensure in the near future the training and supervision of Central African troops.
From Mozambique to Benin
Rwanda’s success is not limited to CAR. In Mozambique, in July 2021, his intervention in the north of the country, then under the influence of a jihadist insurgency linked to the organization “Islamic State” (Daesh), was just as decisive. Neither the Mozambican army nor Wagner had managed to regain a foothold in the province of Cabo Delgado where Daesh was thriving. In three months, the Rwandans chased them out of areas devoted to gas exploitation such as that of TotalEnergies.
Since then, all of Africa and the West have taken a serious look at the Rwandan strike force. “Kigali is taking advantage of the security vacuum in Africa to occupy this niche, it wants to appear as the new “policeman” of the continent”, notes Thierry Vircoulon, of Ifri. Especially at a time when Westerners, starting with France, are challenged in this role. “And because they are well trained, well equipped, well commanded and paid, they achieve results where other African armies are draggers. » Next step ? Benin, where President Patrice Talon signed in April 2023, also a military cooperation agreement with Paul Kagame, of whom he is a fervent admirer.
The consequences
But Rwanda’s military intervention is coupled with an economic component. In the Central African Republic, it was accompanied by contracts in mining. “Kigali generally uses companies like Crystal Ventures, a holding company owned by the ruling party, to manage its business activities in the CAR, and the Rwandan army to protect them”, specifies Crisis Group in the same note. ” In exchange for its intervention in northern Mozambique, Rwandan companies would have obtained contracts from TotalEnergies to provide subcontracting of its mega gas project in this country »emphasizes Thierry Vircoulon.
Economic advantages which are also coupled with an essential political advantage. By making himself useful to the UN and to Western interests, Paul Kagame has a lever of influence to serve his interests, especially when they are questionable or illegal. ” For example, notes Thierry Vircoulon, the services he renders to the international community enable him to support the M23 rebels in his neighbor DR-Congo, with complete impunity. And therefore to de facto annex the territory that this armed group occupies along its border, and the mines therein, without being ostracized by the international community. »
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