There are several thousand Rwandans in the Central African Republic (CAR), many of them in the capital, Bangui, but they are rarely seen. “They’re very discreet and live in a closed circle,” observed a Central African entrepreneur. And yet, over the past 10 years, Rwanda has gradually become a key player in the CAR, whether as part of the UN peacekeeping mission, in the entourage of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, at the head of local branches of international organizations (World Bank, United Nations Development Program, World Food Program) or in the private economic sector. “To such an extent,” remarked a former European ambassador in Bangui, “that one might think the CAR is a kind of laboratory for Rwanda’s policy of influence in Africa.”
This is the trademark policy of President Kagame, who launched his campaign for a fourth term of office on Saturday, June 22. It’s enabling him to make himself a force to be reckoned with, particularly in the eyes of the West. In Mozambique, the other African country where Rwandan troops are deployed, their 2,500 men are tasked with securing Cabo Delgado in the north, where a huge project by the French company TotalEnergies is located.
In the CAR, Rwanda first came to the fore in 2013. A few months earlier, the guerrillas of the Séléka, a mostly Muslim rebel coalition, had taken power by force from a failing government. Eight hundred and fifty soldiers from the Rwanda Defence Force had immediately landed in Bangui, as part of the African Union’s International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA), which the following year became a UN mission, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
This peacekeeping mission, the largest in the world in terms of personnel, has gradually become “Rwanda-dependent.” Kigali is by far its biggest contributor of uniformed personnel. By March 31, 2024, Rwanda was providing some 2,100 soldiers, 30 staff officers and more than 700 police officers for the MINUSCA police force, headed since 2021 by a Rwandan commissioner, Christophe Kabango Bizimungu. That is, in total, almost 20% of UN peacekeepers and police in the CAR. Kigali is also the world’s fourth-largest contributor to UN peace operations (behind Nepal, India and Bangladesh).
France’s withdrawal
“The Rwandan element of MINUSCA is one of the few with the requisite discipline and professionalism to be assigned missions of great sensitivity or requiring combat,” according to the report by the think tank International Crisis Group (ICG), dated July 7, 2023, focused on “Rwanda’s growing role in the Central African Republic.” Since 2015, Rwandan peacekeepers have been providing protection for leading political figures, including the head of state, Touadéra. “The Rwandans’ ability to develop militarily is valuable and rare in Africa,” emphasized a source at the Elysée.
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