[ad_1]
Russia this week announced at the United Nations its intention to withdraw the 300 “military instructors” it had sent to the Central African Republic at the end of 2020 for the presidential election, diplomats told AFP on Friday.
“The Russians have informed the UN that they will withdraw the troops and helicopters” which had been deployed in the Central African Republic during the elections in late December, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
News of the withdrawal has been conveyed to the UN Sanctions Committee tasked with monitoring the arms embargo imposed on CAR, another diplomat said.
In addition to several hundred “instructors”, Moscow had also deployed three or four transport helicopters.
The announcement of the Russian military withdrawal was made before the attacks carried out on Wednesday in the suburbs of Bangui, and questions remained at the UN as to whether Moscow will confirm the departure of the military in light of these latest events.
The Russian mission to the UN did not comment on the development.
After denying the sending of “regular forces” to CAR, as Bangui had asserted, Russia finally recognized last month the deployment of at least “300 additional military instructors”.
This term is often used to refer to the paramilitaries of the Russian private security company Wagner, close to the Kremlin.
The objective was “to help” the CAR “to strengthen its defensive capacities” in the run-up to the elections, the Russian authorities explained at the time.
According to numerous witnesses and aid workers, these “instructors” went to the front lines to fight the rebels.
According to UN sources, the coordination on the ground between the peacekeepers, the Russian “military instructors” and the 300 Rwandan soldiers also sent as reinforcements in December on a bilateral basis, proved “rather good”.
One of the sources said the coordination was an attempt to avoid “friendly fire” between the various forces, “to find out who was where and who was doing what,” adding that “the Rwandans and the Russians have helped a lot” .
At Bangui’s request, the Security Council, which met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the country, has scheduled a new meeting on January 21 which will be public, diplomats said.
The Central African authorities want to take the opportunity to demand the lifting of the arms embargo, even on a temporary basis, to better fight against the rebels who still control large parts of the country, according to a letter to the UN obtained by AFP.
Source link
