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Central African Republic

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Wagner Is Dead, Long Live Wagner! How Putin Plans To Push Deeper Into Africa, Post-Prigozhin

Wagner PMC has built up a powerful network on the African continent. It's one of the mercenary group's greatest assets — and now, a Kremlin takeover of Wagner could even strengthen its influence in Africa, including through the recent coups d'état in Niger and Gabon.

-Analysis-

"Prigozhin’s last thought was ‘Putin!’'’ That's how Boris Johnson imagines what was going through the mind of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the 30-second plunge to the earth in his private jet.

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“I cannot think of another example of such ostentatious and uninhibited savagery by a world leader — not in our lifetimes," added the former British Prime Minister in an article in the Daily Mail.

After Prigozhin's death, the future of the Wagner group remains unclear. Renamed, or reshaped and brought back into line, it's a safe bet that, in one form or another, it will survive the elimination of its founders. Worse still, it may even emerge with its influence in Africa strengthened.

This is the thesis of the ambitious investigation, based on the work of the collective All Eyes On Wagner,that investigative journalists Lou Osborn and Dimitri Zufferey are about to publish with French group Editions du Faubourg.

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Can Men Help Breastfeed Their Children?

In a tribe in central Africa, male and female roles are practically interchangeable in caregiving to children. Even though their lifestyle might sound strange to the West, it offers important life lessons about who raises children — and how.

The southwestern regions of the Central African Republic and the northern Republic of Congo are home to the Aka, a nomadic tribe of hunter-gatherers who, from a Western point-of-view, are surprising because male and female roles are practically interchangeable.

Though women remain the primary caregivers, what is interesting is that their society has a level of flexibility virtually unknown to ours.

While the women hunt, the men care for the children; while the men cook, the women decide where to settle, and vice versa. This was observed by anthropologist Barry Hewlett, a professor at Washington State University, who lived for long periods alongside the tribe. “It is the most egalitarian human society possible,” Hewlett said in an interview.

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One Young Woman's Fight For Surgery Access For 143 Million

MUNICH "To be above it all" has become Magdalena Gründl's purpose in life. By this, she doesn't mean to sound egotistical. The-25 year-old research assistant working at Harvard wants to understand the bigger picture. She hopes to make the world a better place while managing her life as a young academic at an Ivy League university, which is why treating individuals patients was never enough for the medical student.

Saving millions of lives

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African Blood Diamonds For Sale On Facebook And WhatsApp

They don't hide in the abyss of the Dark Web. From Bangui, Beirut, Bordeaux or elsewhere, they use social media to promote their products and services. They are blood diamond community managers from the Central African Republic, traffickers of gems that cannot be legally exported and that are for sale on Facebook and Whatsapp.

One of them, Sader, says he lives in Beirut. He drives a large 4x4 and loves dollars, cigars and Hezbollah propaganda videos. On his Facebook page, he posts pictures of gold bars on a scale showing 10 kilograms, and a multitude of diamonds spread out on trays.

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Syrian War Crimes, Imelda's Jewels, Bucking Zuck

"WAR CRIMES" ON SYRIAN HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS

France and Turkey have denounced the bombing of five hospitals and two schools in Syria, labeling them as war crimes, the BBC reports. At least 50 people were killed by yesterday's strikes in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces, the UN has said. Different warring parties are blaming one another. Turkey is blaming Russia, while Doctors Without Borders, which ran one of the bombed hospitals, accuses "either the Syrian government or Russia." Meanwhile, Syrian ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad claims the U.S. was behind the strikes. While Moscow has yet to respond to the allegations, the bombings could seriously hinder an agreed ceasefire set to begin this week. In aTIMEinterview published yesterday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia had no plans to cease bombing rebel positions until Moscow's allies in Damascus could achieve peace on favorable terms.

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Natacha Tatu

In Bangui, A Grizzled Expat Feeds Hungry Kids With Algae

The protein-rich algae spirulina is abundant and affordable in the Central African Republic, making it a nutritional alternative to help feed kids in the developing world.

BANGUI — Freddy maneuvers his 4x4 with a steady hand, skillfully slaloming between bumps and potholes. Normally, at this time of day, he'd be in his restaurant, the Relais de Chasse (hunting lodge), a popular eatery he runs with an iron grip here in the capital of the Central African Republic. Instead, the aging French expat is on the road to a cooperative hidden in the middle of luxuriant tropical vegetation, where the miracle product he's been talking to us about for the past several days is made.

The product is called spirulina, a freshwater microalgae that has almost unrivaled nutritional properties — proteins, vitamins, beta-carotene, trace elements, it's all there — and can be used therefore as a dietary supplement. It is well-known among naturopaths, who say it can boost sick people's immunity, improve athletic performance, even help students concentrate better. Most importantly, spirulina can get a child suffering from dietary deficiencies on his or her feet in just a matter of weeks.

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Extra! French Soldiers Accused Of Rape In Central African Republic

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Le Parisien, April 30, 2015

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Geopolitics
Cyril Bensimon

How Diamond Smuggling Drives Central African Religious War

Muslim Seleka and Christian anti-Balaka militiamen have squared off for the Central African Republic's so-called blood diamonds. Some call the wartorn nation a 'gemocracy'.

BANGUI — Not a single stone. Not a single carat.

Since May 23, 2013, and the suspension of the Kimberley Process — the certification scheme for the origin of rough diamonds — the Central African Republic (CAR) has officially exported none of the many diamonds that lie in its rivers. It's a massive loss of income for this bankrupted state. In 2012, even though most of the stones were already fraudulently exported, almost 372,000 carats were transported out of the country legally for a value equal to around 45 million euros.

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Geopolitics
Christian Putsch

*Happy* Witness: Slain Photographer Camille Lepage Remembered

French photojournalist Camille Lepage was killed at the age of 26 in the Central African Republic. Despite her youth, her passing leaves a huge hole in crisis reporting. Memories from a German friend and colleague.

CAPE TOWN — In the evening she always sat at the same slightly wobbly table in front of Hotel Levy’s in Bangui, hunched over her laptop, her camera within easy reach. We, her colleagues, sat at the same table talking about our day in the Central African Republic. Jokes made the rounds, taking a bit of the edge off the pain we’d experienced. But Camille Lepage, usually never at a loss for words, said nothing as she worked with her day's batch of photographs.

She never sent her work out before she had checked the latest photos down to the final details, and captioned each one of them. Her work held her firmly in its grip. Photo by photo, she tried to make this incomprehensible crisis, the conflict between Muslims and Christians, a little more graspable. Few could claim to have done as much first-hand reporting about what has been happening there.

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Cyril Bensimon

In Central African Republic, Muslims Blame France

BANGUI — The motorbike stops abruptly. “If the French don’t want to help us, al-Qaeda will,” the teenager shouts before driving away. All around him, this road of the Begoua neighborhood in north Bangui — the Central African Republic’s capital — is covered in bundles full of the belongings of hundreds of people waiting to leave for Chad. Most of the men of the Fula community are armed with machetes, bows and arrows.

These days, France is not the most beloved country in this neighborhood. At the Nur al-Imam mosque, the bodies of three men and two women are rolled up in mats. “The French soldiers killed them. There were six of them, on foot. They threw grenades and shot with their rifles,” says Fadil Mahamat. Another man holds up the cartridge clip of a FAMAS, a French military rifle, bullet casings and a grenade pin as evidence.

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Geopolitics
Cyril Bensimon

Airport Shelter As Chaos Spreads In Central African Republic

BANGUI – Bibiane had a dreadful night. As torrents of rain came beating down on the capital of the Central African Republic, this 28-year-old mother, her two children, her parents and her seven brothers and sisters tried in vain to gather under a single canvas sheet, pocked with holes.

Still, compared to the 35,000 to 40,000 people who took refuge in Bangui's airport, Bibiane and her family might almost be considered privileged.

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Geopolitics

UN Calls For "Restoration Of Order" After Central African Republic Coup

RFI, FRANCE 24 (France), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), AAP ( Australia), MAIL&GUARDIAN (South Africa)

Worldcrunch

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