Published on December 4, 2024
Lecture : 1 minute.
A monument to the glory of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former boss of the Russian mercenary group Wagner who died in 2023, was officially inaugurated on December 3 in front of the Russian House of Bangui. His bronze effigy carries a walkie-talkie and a bulletproof vest loaded with three magazines.
At his side, Kalashnikov in hand, his right arm Dmitri Utkin, deceased in same time as him, on August 23, 2023, in a plane crash that occurred two months after their aborted mutiny in Russia.
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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, has the request of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra. In return, the group obtained gold and diamond mining licenses for its subsidiaries.
“The Russians must be celebrated »
The inauguration of the statue, 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 framework of the bilateral relationship” between the CAR and Russia, according to the Facebook account of the Central African National Police.
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“Russians should be celebrated for their efforts agreed in our country (…), I invite other African countries to take inspiration from this example to celebrate Prigojine and all Russians,” declared to AFP Élysée Bafolo, agent real estate 30 years old.
On the other hand, Trésor Yazimango, 34 years old, project manager of a local NGO, believes that “the CAR is a sovereign country and [que] we don’t have need of these statues. If the Russians really wanted to develop the country, they should have used the money to build roads and improve THE infrastructures ».
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(With AFP)
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