Security firm Bancroft Global Development is looking to manage mining sites in the Central African Republic (CAR), following a push by Washington for the former French colony to stop relying on Russian-backed Wagner mercenaries, it has been reported.

Radio France International (RFI) said that delegates from the U.S-based firm had been talking with the CAR over providing trained, equipped units to protect sites in the country where armed groups operate.

The publication Africa Intelligence had reported in September that talks had been held in the CAR capital Bangui between Bancroft and the country's president Faustin-Archange Touadéra. Russian military bloggers have also noted the reports.

Bancroft operates in regions affected by armed conflict and has a particular focus on Somalia where it provides capacity building for the Somali National Army and the African Union Mission to Somalia.

The New York Times reported in 2011 that the State Department had "indirectly financed" Bancroft to help the fight against the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

RFI said that the Bancroft employees were already in Bangui, and that the private military company (PMC) was looking "to create a well-equipped, trained and supervised Central African unit," to control and protect mining concessions. It was looking for land close to the capital, "to deploy its technical means, in particular observation drones."

Bancroft could also help train forest rangers to develop hunting trips for wealthy foreign tourists, RFI added.

Unnamed sources close to the CAR president told the French broadcaster that Bancroft is in the country "but not yet operational" and that negotiations are ongoing and nothing has been signed.

The U.S. State Department told Newsweek that the U.S. had not requested the involvement of Bancroft in the CAR.

"We continue to coordinate with international partners to support our shared objectives for the CAR," a spokesperson said. "The United States remains fully committed to partnering with the Central African people, and we will continue to engage closely with the CAR government to achieve our shared objectives of a peaceful and prosperous Central African Republic that respects human rights and the rule of law."

Newsweek has contacted Bancroft for comment.

Touadéra's personal security detail is reportedly composed of Wagner members and in July he attended the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, where he met with Vladimir Putin and expressed support for Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had proposed alternatives to the Wagner Group to Touadéra in 2022, Le Monde reported.

Wagner was headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin and offered the Kremlin a footprint in Africa. Its future in the continent has been made uncertain by his death in a plane crash, following his mutiny against Vladimir Putin during which military facilities in Russia were seized and an advance on Moscow took place.

RFI said Bancroft visited Bangui soon after a trip by Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, during which he reassured the CAR that Moscow was committed to the country following Prigozhin's death and that the Kremlin would take over Wagner.

RFI said that the U.S. was seeking "to compete with Wagner on its territory, marking the end of Russian hegemony over the [CAR's] institutions."

Wagner mercenaries control major mining facilities such as the Ndassima gold mine, in the center of the country, the Center for International Strategic Studies has reported.

Update 12/23/23, 04:07 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from the U.S. State Department.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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