Law enforcement agencies of the Central African Republic announced the completion of the investigation into the attack on the Chimbolo gold mine and the killing of nine Chinese citizens who worked there and blamed the armed groups for this. According to Mondafrique sources , a group of Wagner PMCs could have been at the head of them.
CAR Justice Minister Arnaud Jubaye Abazen said the perpetrators of the assassination were militias from the Coalition of Patriots for Change, a coalition of the country's most powerful rebel groups.
However, eyewitnesses interviewed by the publication said they saw white-skinned mercenaries from the Wagner group, accompanied by military personnel from Central Africa, heading to the mine between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning, shortly before the attack began. These testimonies corroborate evidence collected earlier by the Dailybeast newspaper.
Witnesses interviewed by the publication claim that Idriss Bungus, a former rebel from the armed group UPC, led these militia auxiliaries that day. Idriss Bungus took orders from Colonel Kiri, a UPC officer recruited by the Wagner PMC through Livestock Minister Hassan Bub.
Unidentified militants stormed a recently launched Chinese-operated gold mining facility in the Central African Republic on March 20, killing nine Chinese citizens and injuring two more, local authorities said. Chinese President Xi Jinping reacted to the incident by calling for severe punishment for those responsible. Beijing evacuated 80 Chinese citizens from the country.
The rebel coalition, initially blamed by some for the attack on the gold mine at Chimbolo, issued a statement later that day. They accused Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of involvement in the violence. The rebels claim that the Russian mercenaries were planning the attack "to frighten the Chinese, who were there long before the Russians settled in this part of the country."