Armed Men Killed 9 Chinese Miners in Central Africa. Their Identity Is Still Disputed.
March 31, 2023The brutal murder of Chinese workers in the Central African Republic took place shortly before China’s leader Xi Jinping landed in Moscow to show support for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week. Initially, the two events seemed completely irrelevant to each another, but then more details emerged.
The March 19 attack at a gold mine near the town of Bambari left nine Chinese workers dead and two injured. But other aspects of the incident remain murky, turning the ambush into a whodunit with potential implications for Russia’s partnership with China, a powerful neighbor that it increasingly depends on in the face of growing international isolation over its invasion of Ukraine.
In the early morning that day, unidentified gunmen stormed the Chinese-operated Chimbolo gold mine. The attack, among the deadliest on Chinese workers overseas in recent years, angered President Xi, who the next day called for “severe punishment” of the perpetrators.
Officials of the Central African Republic (CAR), including Prime Minister Felix Moloua and Bambari mayor Abel Matchipata, have blamed the attack on the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), a loose alliance of armed rebel groups that oppose President Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
But the rebel coalition has denied responsibility and condemned the killings. Instead, its spokesperson has pointed fingers at the Wagner Group, an infamous pro-Kremlin Russian paramilitary group hired to defend Touadéra’s regime against the rebels. The group, which has been linked with far-right and neo-Nazi extremism, also fights alongside Russian troops in Ukraine.
“It is difficult to analyze what really happened because both camps almost immediately used this incident for their own propaganda,” Charles Bouessel, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, told VICE World News.
Neither the CAR government nor the CPC provided evidence for their opposing claims. Villagers near the gold mine told The Daily Beast that, shortly before the attack, they saw men arriving in pickup trucks who wore the same military regalia often donned by Wagner mercenaries.
And two Western officials based in the CAR capital Bangui told The New York Times that Wagner operatives brought back the bodies of the Chinese nationals to the city—though the report didn’t say how they knew this. The newspaper also quoted a CPC spokesman as saying that the group sought to topple Touadéra’s government, not kill Chinese nationals.
Vitaly Perfilev, a top security adviser to Touadéra and the head of the Russian contractors in CAR, said he had no comments in response to VICE World News’ questions about the attack. Perfilev has been reported to be the military chief of Wagner in the country, although he has denied the very existence of Wagner.
Despite its wealth of mineral resources, including gold and diamond, CAR is beset by a continuing civil war and remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
Wagner mercenaries have become active in CAR, one of Russia’s main centers of influence in sub-Saharan Africa, since they were hired by Touadéra in 2018 to bolster the country’s army and combat rebel fighters. Wagner fighters have sustained heavy losses in clashes with rebels.
Russian fighters have reportedly seized control of mining sites in CAR from Chinese companies using brute force in the past. The motive for doing so remains unconfirmed, but it has been speculated that they were carried out due to unpaid demands for money from the CAR government for Wagner’s work combating rebel groups. Other reports have suggested Wagner is given access to the country’s mineral resources in exchange for military support to the government.
Outside CAR, the group is known to operate also in Sudan and Mali to help the governments fight insurgency and has been accused of massacring civilians to establish control over areas.
“The way they make people understand that this is their territory now is just to kill everyone they meet on the ground,” said Bouessel of the International Crisis Group.
But neither the rebel alliance CPC or Wagner fighters regularly target foreign nationals, especially Chinese citizens, observers say. “The murder of nine Chinese citizens is out of the norm and doesn’t follow previous patterns for either the CPC or Russian private military companies,” John Lechner, a freelance journalist and researcher who has covered the country extensively, told VICE World News. He added, however, that nothing can be ruled out until there is further evidence.
The timing of the attack is particularly sensitive, as it happened just before the high-profile meeting between Chinese and Russian leaders in Moscow on March 20.
“The timing would be incredibly terrible for Russian private military contractors, in terms of putting a stain on the meeting,” Lechner said.
Commenting on the incident, former state media editor Hu Xijin expressed concern that some social media users are making unfounded claims to undermine China-Russia relations. He said speculation that the CAR government gave Chinese-owned mines to Wagner as compensation for their services and condoned their killing of Chinese miners on the site “makes no sense politically.”
The circumstances of the attack remain unclear. The newly-opened Chimbolo gold mine, located some 25 kilometers from the town of Bambari, is run by a Chinese company called the Gold Coast Group. Different parties have fought for control of the coveted site, which is thought to be rich in minerals, experts say.
A photo circulating on social media appeared to show the aftermath of the assault, with at least eight men lying, some side by side, face down on the ground and the soil under their bodies stained red. VICE World News could not independently verify the contents of the photo.
The victims’ bodies were moved to a hospital in Bangui, in the presence of Chinese ambassador Li Qinfeng and CAR foreign minister Sylvie Baïpo-Temon.
The CAR state prosecutor’s office said authorities launched a probe as soon as they learnt of the attack. The inquiry commission is led by the director-general of the police, Bienvenu Zokoué, who has a close relationship with Perfilev, the leader of the Russian contractors, according to The Africa Report.
Li, the Chinese ambassador, has demanded the inclusion of Chinese experts in the probe and some investigators from a private Chinese firm arrived in CAR earlier this week, the magazine reported.
In a statement last Friday, the CAR embassy in China described the incident as part of a series of attacks targeting Chinese investors in the country. The embassy condemned the “acts of terrorism,” which included taking Chinese workers hostage and vandalizing their property, and pledged the perpetrators would be prosecuted.
Three Chinese nationals were kidnapped by gunmen near the country’s border with Cameroon earlier this month. In light of recent incidents, the Chinese foreign ministry has urged Chinese citizens and companies to leave high-risk areas and not to travel outside Bangui. Many Chinese social media users have petitioned the Chinese government to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Experts, however, are skeptical that the attack represents a wider backlash against Chinese investment in the CAR. Lechner said that Beijing’s initiatives in the country, including the renovation of a hospital and donation of masks and respirators during the pandemic, are generally well-received by the local population.
There are only around a dozen Chinese mining companies operating in the country, an employee at one of them told a Chinese outlet. They set up shop after 2019, when the Touadéra government signed a peace accord with armed groups. Many owners have poor security awareness, the employee added.
Like other foreign mining companies working in the conflict zone, Chinese groups have faced security challenges in the CAR. Tensions with the local community have occasionally flared, and in 2018, three Chinese nationals were killed by an angry mob in a dispute, which Lechner described as “an isolated event.”
It remains to be seen if the incident could affect China-CAR relations or prompt Chinese companies to pull out permanently. President Touadéra is reportedly planning a trip to Beijing in a bid to reassure investors and contain the political fallout.
Julia Steers contributed reporting.
Follow Rachel Cheung on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Julia Steers on Twitter.