Battle for influence: US private security firm in talks with CAR govt to counter Russia’s Wagner

The US private military company Bancroft Global Development is reportedly in talks with the government of Central African Republic (CAR) over “future activities,” as the Russian mercenary group Wagner is in the process of reorganization following the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The death of Wagner’s leader has created a window of opportunity in the CAR for Western powers to offer an alternative. Russian authorities have sought to reorganize the mercenary group, established in the country in 2018, following the mutiny against the Kremlin led by Prigozhin in June and his subsequent death in a plane crash two months later. Bancroft’s communications service has denied having deployed to Bangui but admitted contacts with the regime of President Faustin Archange Touadéra, saying that “starting in July, Bancroft agreed to a framework to discuss possible future activities with the government of the Central African Republic.”
A spokesman for the CAR presidency admitted last week that his country was carrying out “work to diversify its relations” by calling “partners including the Russian Federation, Angola, Morocco, Guinea (…)” to help train soldiers. “The United States is also offering the [CAR] to train its soldiers, both on Central African soil and on American soil,” he added. As this battle for Influence rages in the heart of Wagner’s operations in Africa, experts point out that the CAR government’s shifting policy priorities could see the Russian mercenary group’s influence challenged in the conflict-riven country. French daily Le Monde has reported that Washington offered the CAR a security agreement in late 2022 in exchange for its government distancing itself from Wagner, but neither side has confirmed this. In any case, experts believe that rivalry between powers in the region was set to intensify in the coming year.