Russian Foot on the Central African Republic’s Soil: An Example of a Tactical Alliance

Abstract

The article evaluates cooperation between the Central African Republic and the Russian Federation from the perspective of forming a tactical alliance. The article conceptualises the term tactical alliance and the aims of both partners, and analyses how these aims were fulfilled under the umbrella of the tactical alliance. The authors evaluated four dimensions of this alliance: 1) military and security cooperation, 2) weapons delivery, 3) resources exploitation and 4) international support. The article comes to the conclusion that a tactical alliance was formed by the unofficial cooperation that started between the CAR’s government and private companies backed by Moscow in 2017, while later (in 2019) the cooperation was officially established between the states and their representatives with its peak in December 2020. While the alliance may be seen as rational, the authors expect that this type of opportunistic alliance might not survive after the initial reasons for its formation disappear, especially provided that the partners are asymmetrical and geographically far from each other.

Dimensies en doelwitte van Rusland se nuwe betrokkenheid in Afrika

“…Die doelwit is om die regering in die hoofstad van Bangui en ander groot stede te beveilig, terwyl die landelike gebiede aan die rebelle oorgelaat word. Op hierdie manier verseker Rusland die stabiliteit van die regering en word bilaterale samewerking deur middel van die militêre teenwoordigheid versterk(Hayrapetyan en Kučera 2021). Amerika handhaaf die grootste militêre teenwoordigheid (15 militêre buiteposte en 12 tydelike basisse), gevolg deur Frankryk met ses permanente basisse en 'n aantal kleiner buiteposte.…”

Franco-Russian Great Power Rivalry in the Sahara-Sahel Region

“…The ineffectiveness of international organizations and Western actors compelled the CAR government to turn to Russia for help. Russian military instructors trained Central African security forces and military personnel in combat weapons operation (unlike the EU mission), and Russian special task forces participated in anti-terrorist operations of the Central African army (Hayrapetyan and Kučera, 2022). The Russian military presence played a crucial role in stabilizing the country, significantly reducing the level of violence in the CAR by 2020 (France24, 2022).…”