Dozens of miners are believed to have died in at least three major attacks this year involving mercenaries working for the Wagner Group, a private military company linked to the Kremlin by Western officials. There are also reports of further landmine attacks in at least six other locations throughout CAR. Witnesses interviewed in Sudan by the Guardian described “massacres” by fighters they identified as Wagner, who scanned camps full of migrant miners and mines between the northeastern city of Am Daga and the border for a period of six. The militants fired indiscriminately with automatic weapons, smashed equipment, destroyed buildings and stole motorcycles, they said. One described a mass grave with more than 20 victims. Others spoke of hundreds dead or injured. The accounts have been verified by local civil society groups and international officials and are considered “credible” in Western European capitals, where security services monitor Wagner’s operations. The three biggest incidents occurred on March 13, April 15 and May 24. Most of the victims were migrant workers from Sudan and Chad who worked in the gold mines, although some local civilians are also believed to have died. Mohammed Zain Mohamed Wadi, 42, said he was attacked by Russians, some in armored vehicles, and CAR soldiers in trucks or motorcycles in an area called Jabal a-Nar, about 50 miles west of the Sudanese border. Wadi said he helped bury 21 of the victims, all Sudanese. Six other people were also killed. “I will never go back; I really do not think anyone is left. The gold mines there have been occupied by the Russians,” he said. Jamaa Mohamed al-Habou, 35, was among those attacked in the last week of May in the village of Sankillio, near Andaha. He said he and other miners had been “chased by Wagner” and that many had been killed during a day-long attack. The 35-year-old escaped to a nearby forest, abandoning a metal detector. Others left behind motorcycles and other vehicles, which were confiscated by the perpetrators. Members of armed groups opposed to the government were also targeted, Hambu said. A third witness said 70 people, including his brother and six relatives, were killed when Russians and Africans attacked the mine where he worked in March. “I had to run for seven days. “I saw them coming… to kill and rob anyone who could reach them,” said Adam Zakaria, 36, of Neyala in South Darfur. He described the Wagner group as white people wearing gray military uniforms, traveling in trucks, armored vehicles and helicopters. “When we first left their attacks, we thought we were safe, but suddenly on the way they trapped us and started beating us and near Am Daga they set another trap where they killed 21 people. “We had to bury them in a big grave,” Zakaria said. Since joining CAR four years ago to defend the government against the guerrillas, the Wagner Group has been trying to control the flow of gold and diamonds. Analysts believe he initially promised the group gold and other mining concessions instead of cash payments for his services. Such concessions have become significant as the ruble has come under pressure since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Precious metals, especially gold, could help Vladimir Putin’s regime survive the economic effects of sanctions. Analysts say the recent attacks were more like looting raids than trying to secure and extract resources for months or years. “There are regular reports of attackers arriving by helicopter, killing goldsmiths and guerrillas.” [then] they take what they can and then leave. Sometimes they come back a month later and do the same thing. “It has nothing to do with the security of a mining site,” said Pauline Bax, deputy director of the International Crisis Group for Africa. Wagner has also been accused of attacking miners elsewhere in the CAR, and there have been reports of recent invasions of the porous border between CAR and Sudan, as fighters identified by Wagner are pursuing fugitive miners. Wagner is active in twelve countries across Africa and has been repeatedly accused of human rights abuses on the continent. Western officials say the Kremlin is using Wagner to promote Russian economic and political interests across Africa and elsewhere. Sorcha MacLeod, chairman of the United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries, said the presence of groups such as Wagner prolonged the conflict, led to higher levels of violence and often led to widespread human rights abuses. “Wagner is doubling up in the Sahel and he will not be leaving soon,” he said. In a report in May, Human Rights Watch said forces in the CAR, which witnesses identified as Russians, appeared to have beaten, tortured and killed civilians there since 2019. It said Russian-linked forces in the CAR were not wearing defined uniform with formal insignia or other distinctive features. On April 15, the UN announced it would investigate the circumstances under which at least 10 people were killed in the northeastern CAR, with some initial reports indicating that Russian forces may be involved. Yevgeny Prigogine, a Russian businessman and close ally of Putin, has been accused by the United States, the European Union and others of financing Wagner. The Guardian approached Prigozhin seeking his reaction to evidence involving Wagner’s fighters in massacres in Mali earlier this year. In response, he said he had “repeatedly said that the Wagner Group did not exist” and had “nothing to do with it”, adding that “a disappearing Western civilization” would be defeated by Russia. Former CAR Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra said there was no agreement between his country and “a Russian private security company; only a military cooperation agreement with Russia”. An EU report leaked to CAR in November 2021 stated: “Today, most [national army] the units operate under the direct management or supervision of the WG [Wagner Group] mercenaries “. CAR is one of the poorest countries in the world and is facing an economic collapse. About 1,200 Wagner fighters are believed to have been deployed there.
