France has suspended its military cooperation and budgetary aid to the Central African government, labelling the Central African Republic “complicit” in an anti-French campaign.
The French Defense Ministry on Monday said it considered the Central African state “complicit” in a Russia-led anti-French campaign.
The ministry said “… on several occasions, the Central African authorities have made commitments that they have not kept, both politically towards the opposition and in terms of their behavior towards France, which is the target of a massive disinformation campaign in CAR.”
Noting that “… the Russians are not to blame, but the Central Africans are at best accomplices in this campaign.”
In April, five French military aid workers who were posted to the Central African Defence Ministry were recalled to Paris. The military training provided to the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) by troops stationed in Gabon has also been suspended. The ministry confirmed this.
France, a former global power, continues to contribute around 100 soldiers to the European mission EUTM-RCA, which mobilizes nearly 200 soldiers to support the FACA.
Ten of the soldiers participate in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (Minusca), which has 12,000 blue helmets in the region.
France, intervened from 2013 to 2016 through Operation Sangaris to stop the violence, handed over some 1,400 assault rifles to the FACA in December 2018 after obtaining an exemption to the UN embargo.