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  • World - Africa
  • Updated: December 15, 2022

Last French Soldiers Depart From Central African Republic

Last French Soldiers Depart From Central African Republic

The operation, named Sangaris, was France's seventh military intervention in the CAR since the country gained independence in 1960. (AFP)

The last French soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic left the capital Bangui on Thursday at midday, an AFP journalist noted.

At around 12.15 p.m. (11.15 a.m. GMT), a C130 cargo plane took off from Bangui airport carrying the final 47 French soldiers of the logistical mission (MISLOG-B). 

According to the French army, the majority of the 130 soldiers who made up the contingent recently left the Central African Republic.

The French military left the French colony almost four months after leaving Mali.

This marks the conclusion of the divorce between Paris and the government in Bamako, which has also decided to hire Russian instructors to help secure the nation.

"In 2021, when the presence of the private military company Wagner was increasingly intrusive in the country, France considered that the conditions were no longer met for us to continue working for the Central African armed forces," General François-Xavier Mabin, commander of French forces in Gabon, told AFP.

Paris decided to halt military cooperation with Bangui in the summer of 2021 after determining that Bangui was "complicit" in a Russian-led campaign against France.

France frequently accuses these paramilitaries of abusing civilians and establishing a system of "predation" on the resources of Central Africa.

The Central African Republic, one of the world's poorest nations, has been torn apart by yet another civil war since 2013 when the Séléka coalition of armed groups ousted President François Bozizé.

To retake control, the latter group organized and armed so-called anti-Balaka militias, which are primarily Christian and animist.

With approval from the UN, France, a former colonial power, sent more than 1,000 soldiers to the Central African Republic in 2013 as part of Operation Sangaris to end inter-communal violence. Sangaris lasted until 2016, with up to 1,600 soldiers.

The Central African Republic conflict peaked in 2018 and then waned; both Séléka and anti-balaka have been charged by the UN with committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. The conflict has been extremely deadly for civilians.

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