The statue of Yevgeni Prigojine (left), represented with his right arm Dmitri Outkin, who died at the same time as him in 2023.
AFP
A monument to the glory of Yevgeni Prigojine, the former boss of the Russian mercenary group Wagner who died in 2023, was officially inaugurated on Tuesday in front of the Russian House in Bangui, the Central African capital, AFP noted.
His bronze effigy carries a walkie-talkie and a bulletproof vest loaded with three magazines. At his side, Kalashnikov in hand, his right-hand man Dmitri Outkin, who died at the same time as him, on August 23, 2023, in a plane crash that occurred two months after their aborted mutiny in Russia.
Unlike other African countries where its contingents were restructured under the name “Africa Corps”, those called “the Wagners” have retained all their influence in the Central African Republic since their deployment in 2018, at the request of the president Faustin Archange Touadéra. In return, the group obtained gold and diamond mining licenses for its subsidiaries.
The inauguration, celebrated in the presence of several Central African officials and senior officers, including the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces “is part of the bilateral relationship” between the CAR and Russia, according to the Facebook account of the Central African National Police.
“Russians must be celebrated for their efforts in our country (…), I invite other African countries to take inspiration from this example to celebrate Prigojine and all Russians,” Élysée told AFP Bafolo, 30-year-old real estate agent.
On the other hand, Trésor Yazimango, 34 years old project manager of a local NGO, believes that “the CAR is a sovereign country and we do not need these statues. If the Russians really wanted to develop the country, they should have used this money to build roads and improve infrastructure.
Marked by a succession of civil wars, coups d’état and authoritarian regimes since its independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic is among the poorest countries in the world despite its very rich subsoil.
Conflicts have declined in intensity in recent years, but pockets of violence remain, with attacks by rebel groups in remote areas and responses from the Central African army supported by its Wagner allies.
Evgeni Prigojine founded the Wagner group in 2014, initially deployed in Africa and the Middle East before being mobilized in Ukraine. Once considered close to Vladimir Putin, he fell from grace after ordering his men to march towards Moscow in June 2023.
Killed with a large part of his staff in a plane crash in Russia, he is buried in the Porokhovskoye cemetery in Saint Petersburg.
(afp)
