Central African Republic’s Touadera, friend of Russia and crypto, vies for third term

Dec 23 (Reuters) – Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera is seeking a controversial third term on Sunday after a decade in office in which he has turned to Russia for security in exchange for access to gold and other resources. 

Touadera, 68, a mathematician, is relying on a tactic familiar in the region to extend his tenure, having overseen a referendum in 2023 that scrapped the presidential term limit.

But he has been a trailblazer in other respects. In 2018, CAR became the first country in West and Central Africa to bring in Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, a move later mirrored by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

And in 2022, CAR became the first African nation – and second globally after El Salvador – to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.

Campaigning on his security record and pledging infrastructure investment, Touadera has attended numerous ceremonies, including signing a deal last week to launch Starlink in CAR.

“When I came to power in 2016, you couldn’t travel 10 km without being harassed. There was no security, no roads, nothing. We have worked so hard to achieve this result today,” he told supporters this month at a rally in Bangui.

Despite close ties with Russia, Touadera has signalled a renewed interest in Western partnerships, telling the Financial Times in September that he would welcome any country willing to develop CAR’s lithium, uranium and gold reserves. 

Analysts say Touadera is favoured to win, aided by civil servants campaigning for him and the significant resource advantage he enjoys over his opponents.

“The president will win because he has much more financial capacity than the opponents,” said Charles Bouessel of International Crisis Group.

FRAGILE SECURITY GAINS

CAR has endured repeated cycles of unrest since independence from France in 1960, leaving most of its 5.5 million people in poverty.

Five years ago, Rwanda deployed troops to prevent rebels from disrupting elections and maintains a presence today. Touadera signed peace deals this year with several rebel groups, reducing violence in some regions and helping economic growth rise to about 3%, up from 1.9% in 2024, IMF data shows.

Security remains a top voter concern. “What we want are roads and peace,” said Jean-Claude Kolego, a trader in Bangui. But analysts warn gains are fragile: rebels have not fully disarmed, reintegration is incomplete, and incursions by combatants from neighbouring Sudan fuel insecurity in the east.

“There are a lot of ingredients that could lead to a renewed cycle of violence,” said Nathalia Dukhan, Central Africa analyst for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime.

Government and allied forces “have been using fear and terror” to maintain control, she said. Human Rights Watch has accused Russian mercenaries of executions and torture.

In November, the U.N. Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission. The U.S. opposed the decision, calling for a shorter extension and a handover of security to Bangui.

RUSSIA’S COSTLY SECURITY DEAL

Russian security assistance has come at a cost. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies think tank said in 2023 that Russia had earned over $2.5 billion in African gold through its mercenary missions in CAR, Mali and Sudan.

Touadera has also launched two cryptocurrency ventures to attract investors, which GI-TOC warned could expose state assets to foreign criminal networks.

He is seeking investors for a long-discussed railway project linking CAR to Cameroon and Sudan and has vowed to boost revenue from mining under a new code adopted in 2024.

But illegal mining and criminality remain rampant. China issued a rare warning to citizens last month of the risks of kidnapping, extortion and slavery in the sector.

Touadera’s economic initiatives have brought little relief to a country where two-thirds of people lived in extreme poverty in 2023, World Bank data shows.

“We are always promised jobs and schools, but many young people remain unemployed,” said Clarisse, a university student in Bangui.

(Writing by Jessica Donati; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Ros Russell)