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Negotiations are underway between the UN and Bangui to obtain the release of four soldiers from the Foreign Legion corps of the French army arrested and detained since Monday in the Central African Republic. According to Paris, the legionnaires who operated under the UN banner were victims of a disinformation campaign on social networks accusing them of having wanted to “assassinate” the Central African president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
According to information from France 24, negotiations are underway between the UN and the Central African Republic to get the release of the four soldiers of the French army who were arrested on Monday February 21as they escorted French General Stéphane Marchenoir, Chief of Staff of the peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic (Minusca), to the airport.
The soldiers are part of the body of the Foreign Legion and, according to the public prosecutor of Bangui, are “of French, Italian, Romanian and Bulgarian nationality”.
A source familiar with the matter even said he was “optimistic” about the outcome of the negotiations, while senior UN officials met with President Faustin-Archange Touadéra to discuss the matter.
“Everyone is trying to resolve this so that we can see the release of the four soldiers as quickly as possible,” United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday during his daily press briefing.
In Bangui, the Central African justice opened an investigation on Tuesday “to shed light on the facts”, while the four legionnaires, who operated under the banner of the UN, are accused on social networks of having wanted to “murder” President Touadéra, whose convoy was to pass through the same place.
Coincidence or not, this affair broke out the day France and the United States accused before the Security Council the “mercenaries” of the private Russian company Wagner of having “massacred” and “executed” dozens of civilians in January. Russian paramilitaries have been present in the Central African Republic since 2018, where they provide security for leaders and protect the capital.
Diplomatic tension is also high between France and the Central African Republic, which Paris accuses of being “accomplice” of an anti-French campaign orchestrated by Moscow, in particular on social networks and in certain media. Reasons which prompted France to cut, in June 2021, its military support and financial aid to Bangui.
“Gross disinformation”
It is in this particular context that France denounced the “immediate instrumentalisation” on social networks of the arrest of the four security officers, which it described as an “incident”, and condemned a campaign of “disinformation rude” that followed.
-Communicated-
The close protection team of General Marchenoir, Chief of Staff of the Minusca Force, made up of four French soldiers, was arrested this afternoon at Bangui airport. These 4 security officers were escorting the Chief of Staff of the ⤵️— France in Bangui (@FranceBangui) February 21, 2022
Same tone on the side of Minusca, who regrets in a press release “this incident and strongly condemns its instrumentalization on social networks, in an attempt to manipulate public opinion”.
“They were at the airport to escort the general, it was a combination of circumstances that meant that at the same time, President Touadera’s plane was landing,” the Parisian army headquarters explained on Tuesday. AFP.
“Without particular reasons, they were arrested by the Central African gendarmerie while they were near the airport and charges relating to an attempted attack were made via social networks,” the source continued.
viral pictures
Mardi, Bangui Newspaper said that images of the four arrested servicemen, their “United Nations” badges and their military equipment “flooded the Internet” as of Monday, through “dozens of accounts across Africa”. And this, before any official communication from the local authorities. At the time of their arrest by the gendarmerie, the legionnaires were armed and in uniform. Among other things, they carried assault rifles and pistols.
“These images were accompanied by the comment ‘attempted assassination of the Central African president’, continues the local newspaper. A version taken up by a reputable news site close to Russian interests in the Central African Republic, but denied by the French Embassy and Minusca .”
According to the Journal de Bangui, it was the vehicle used by these soldiers that led to their arrest. “It is a rental vehicle, registered in the Central African Republic, which would have attracted the attention of the security services. According to several sources, it was a temporary vehicle made available to the Chief of Staff of Minusca , General Marchenoir, waiting for an official car.”
Last May, the arrest of a French national, Rémy Quignolot, in possession of weapons of war and presented as a “spy” or a “mercenary” on social networks and by certain media, had also been denounced by France. Paris had even pointed out the role of Russia, without naming it. The former soldier, installed in the Central African Republic for eight years, is still detained. Accused of undermining state security, he faces forced labor in perpetuity.
With AFP