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Russia-linked Wagner group accused of atrocities in central Africa

Russia-linked Wagner group accused of atrocities in central Africa

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A Russian-linked mercenary group has been accused of carrying out beatings, torture and executions in the Central African Republic (CAR), a human rights group said Tuesday. 

The Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group with known ties to the Kremlin, has been operating in the central African nation since 2018 after authorities signed an agreement with the CAR to train its forces. 

This undated photograph handed out by French military shows three Russian mercenaries, right, in northern Mali. Russia has engaged in under-the-radar military operations in at least half a dozen countries in Africa in the last five years using a shadowy mercenary force analysts say is loyal to President Vladimir Putin. The analysts say the Wagner Group of mercenaries is also key to Putin’s ambitions to re-impose Russian influence on a global scale. 
(French Army via AP)

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The CAR has been embroiled in a civil war for roughly a decade and in 2018 sought the support of the Wagner group to counter rebel and militia groups. 

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday claimed the Russian security firm has been acting with impunity and said, “There is compelling evidence that Russian-identified forces supporting the Central African Republic’s government have committed grave abuses.”

“The failure of the Central African Republic government and its partners to forcefully denounce these abuses, and to identify and prosecute those responsible, will most likely only fuel further crimes in Africa and beyond,” crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch Ida Sawyer said. 

The UN announced last a month that it would be launching an investigation into a series of events in which nearly a dozen people were killed in an area in the northeast of the CAR, with some reports suggesting the Russian forces may have been involved. 

Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 40 people, including 10 victims and 15 witnesses,…

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