A monument in honor of the late leader of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been unveiled in the Central African Republic (CAR). The statue of Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitru Utkin, who both died in a plane crash last year, was erected in the capital Bangui. The statue shows Prigozhin in bullet-proof clothing holding a walkie-talkie next to his colleague who holds an AK-47 rifle. Fighters from the Wagner Group have been in CAR since 2018, when they were invited by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra to help tackle rebel groups. The group's subsidiaries went on to win contracts to operate gold and diamond mines. They are also operating in several other African countries but their most significant presence is in CAR. A statement by the CAR national police said the monument was "part of the bilateral relationship" between CAR and Russia. The ceremony to unveil the statues was attended by Defense Minister Rameau Claude Bireau and top military officials. Prigozhin and Utkin died alongside others on 23 August 2023, after their private jet came down northwest of Moscow, killing all those on board. It came two months after their aborted mutiny in Russia. The Kremlin denied speculation it was to blame for the crash. The Wagner Group has since been renamed Corps Africa, although it continues to operate under the Wagner name in CAR. President Touadéra has defended their continued presence in the country. "It was said that 80% of the territory was occupied by armed groups. Today, thanks to this cooperation, these figures are completely reversed," he told the BBC in an interview last December. Even before the inauguration of the Prigozhin statue, Russia's role in the country was already immortalized by a statue in Bangui, of Russian troops shielding a woman and her children. CAR has one of the world's poorest populations despite being rich in diamonds, gold, oil and uranium. It has been almost continuously unstable since independence from France in 1960. Violence has subsided in recent years, although fighting does still occasionally erupt between rebels and the Wagner-backed national army. Critics say President Toudera's government is supported by the Russian mercenaries and other groups in exchange for exploiting the country's resources. Prigozhin founded Wagner in 2014, initially working mostly in the Middle East and Africa before being deployed to Ukraine at the start of 2022. — BBC
