Witnesses unravel the Chinese mass murder mystery that could ruin Putin

Photo illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters

EKOK, Cameroon – It was just before 5 a.m. local time when two pickup trucks carrying allegedly mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group stopped in front of Zaza and five other men, who were patrolling the areas near the Chimbolo gold mine in the Central African Republic .

The vigilantes — who are among hundreds of men pulled from the village of Chimbolo to prevent thugs and robbers from attacking the buildings and electrical installations in the high-crime area — were on the street leading to the gold mine near the eastern town on Sunday Bambari. . They described the men in the pickup trucks as “white soldiers” dressed in the same military regalia often worn by the Russian mercenaries.

“A white soldier in one of the vehicles got out of the car and ordered us to leave the area,” Zaza, the vigilante leader who prefers to be identified by his nickname, told The Daily Beast. “He said he and his colleagues would be responsible for securing the area.”

About 10 minutes later, vigilantes said they heard a loud explosion at the Chimbolo gold mine, manned by Chinese workers after it opened last week. They said the explosion was followed by gunfire that lasted for more than an hour. “We could even hear the sounds of people yelling at the gold mine,” Zaza said. “It sounded like they were calling for help.”

According to the vigilantes, at 6 a.m., the same vehicles transporting the Russians to the gold mine reportedly left the premises and turned onto the same street they had driven to get to the mine, the witnesses told The Daily Beest. “In the cars were the same people we saw before,” Zaza said.

The Wagner group at an undisclosed location.

Thanks to the Security Service of Ukraine

The vigilantes then rushed into the gold mine, where they reportedly found the guards, local Central Africans, tied up – with dead bodies around them on the ground.

“We counted nine dead bodies of Chinese men,” another vigilante who was on the scene after the attack told The Daily Beast. “Two other Chinese men, as well as a Central African soldier, had gunshot wounds mainly to their hands and legs, but were alive when we saw them.”

Without providing any evidence, the Russian-allied CAR government said shortly after the incident that the attack was a “terrorist act” carried out by militants of the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) – an amalgamation of major rebel groups in the CAR the one in December 2020 to disrupt the 2020-2021 Central African general election. Their aim, according to government spokesman Ghislain Djori, “is to discourage investors who want to support the efforts of the President of the Republic Faustin Archange Touadera.”

After the attack, the government promised that “the perpetrators of this crime will be hunted to their last entrenchment”, but the fact that it blamed the CPC, which in turn accused the Wagner Group of committing the murders, has led to the suspicion of a cover to protect the Russians.

Aftermath

The attack on the Chimbolo coincided with a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has called for “heavy punishment” for those behind the attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Moscow.

A fallout with China over the Chimbolo killings is something Putin is desperately trying to avoid. As Russia flounders in a military and economic quagmire over the war in Ukraine, China has emerged as Russia’s biggest diplomatic, financial and technological supporter.

The allegation that Wagner is involved in the attack is likely to strain relations between Russia and China, that Moscow has continued to provide “non-lethal” aid throughout the war and so far has provided no weapons.

It is unclear if both leaders discussed the incident. China’s foreign ministry said in a statement Monday that China had sent a team to the mine and that “a working group from the embassy [in CAR’s capital, Bangui] rushed to the scene to coordinate response to the attack.

“Rebels usually don’t kill foreigners, but kidnap them and demand ransom for their release,” said Ali, a former Union for Peace (UPC) fighter who previously worked for the Wagner Group in CAR. told The Daily Beast under an alias. “This is an attack that only the Russians can carry out.”

Russian mercenaries in northern Mali.

Courtesy of the French Armed Forces

Not even the CAR National Assembly, which usually conforms to the government’s stance, is pointing the finger at the rebels. Rather, it has accused foreign mercenaries of being behind the attack (although a statement by the National Assembly’s first vice president Évariste Ngamana did not name any specific country).

For years, French companies dominated mining in CAR, a former French colony. But since Russian mercenaries — invited by the Central African government to help fight rebels seeking power — became very active in the impoverished African country some five years ago, Russian firms linked to Wagner boss Yevgeny have Prigozhin, made mining in the country a success. but theirs, displacing both local and foreign miners who were active there before their arrival.

According to those who have worked closely with the Wagner Group, China’s recent attempt to gain access to the lucrative sector could be seen as a threat to Russia’s mining operations in the country.

“The Russians don’t want anyone else to take control of a mining site [in CAR] except you’re Russian,” said Ali, the ex-member of Wagner’s local wing, known as the “Black Russians.” “It’s worse when you’re a foreigner. They’ll make sure you’re dead so you don’t find a way to come back in the future.”

Breakpoint

Reports of Russian paramilitaries targeting foreign miners in the CAR are not new. Last June a message from The protector revealed dozens of migrant miners were massacred, some buried in mass graves, in at least three attacks by Wagner mercenaries last year. That was followed by a Middle East Eye report in July that about 100 prospectors from Sudan, Chad and Niger were killed in a massacre by Wagner forces in the CAR’s eastern Andaha region in what was reportedly a desperate Russian attempt to to control the flow. of gold and diamonds that could help Moscow manage the blow of sanctions caused by Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.

In Chimbolo, two locals who live near the gold mine owned by the Gold Coast Group, a Chinese company, told The Daily Beast that they had seen vehicles carrying “white soldiers” patrolling the area days before the attacks took place, including on the day the mine opened last week.

‘I have seen them [patrolling the area] very early in the morning and late at night,” Elog Yambere, a local mason, told The Daily Beast. “They didn’t always use the same vehicle when they showed up.”

A local CAR defense official told The Daily Beast that China wants to conduct its own investigation, separate from that of the CAR authorities.

CAR authorities hope to complete their own investigation before the end of the month, according to the defense official, who said “everyone”, including the Wagner Group, is a suspect in the attack. But not everyone may have access to the government’s findings.

“We will present our findings only to the president,” said the official speaking privately to The Daily Beast. “Only the president can decide what to do with it next.”

The Wagner Group has not publicly commented on the Chimbolo attack. The Daily Beast reached out to Prigozhin for comment, but emails to Concord Management, a company the Wagner financier owns a majority stake in, went unanswered.

At the moment, the CAR government is taking desperate measures to prevent a political blowout with Beijing. President Faustin Archange Touadera, who has not yet personally spoken publicly about the incident, reportedly plans to travel to China to reassure investors about their safety in the country.

“If Touadera doesn’t handle this well, we could witness a blowout between CAR and China on the one hand and tensions between China and Russia on the other, especially if China is convinced that Wagner committed the murders,” he said. Wilfried M. ‘Vondo, a member of the ruling United Hearts Movement party, told The Daily Beast. “At this point, many people are pointing the finger at Wagner and that could lead to disaster.”