A subsidiary of French wine group Castel paid rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) to protect its sugar operations in the country, a US graft watchdog said Wednesday.
A local subsidiary of Castel called SUCAF RCA entered into a “security arrangement” with an armed group called the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) to protect a sugar refinery and cane fields, The Sentry said.
The “tacit agreement” was forged in late 2014 at a time of political and security upheaval and lasted until March this year, it said in a report.
Rights groups have accused the UPC of committing atrocities in the chronically unstable country.
SUCAF RCA is a subsidiary of an agribusiness company called SOMDIAA, meaning for the Societe d’Organisation, de Management et de Developpement des Industries Alimentaires et Agricoles.
SOMDIAA itself is 87 percent held by Castel, the world’s fourth-biggest wine company.
Contacted by AFP, SOMDIAA denied the allegations.
“To our knowledge, there was no arrangement reached by the SUCAF RCA management and no support of any kind was given,” said SOMDIAA CEO Alexandre Vilgrain.
Castel did not respond to requests for comment.
“SUCAF RCA set up a sophisticated, informal system to finance the violent militias through direct and indirect cash payments, as well as through in-kind support in the form of vehicle maintenance and fuel provision,” The Sentry said.
The militia also helped to protect the company’s monopoly, seizing “smuggled sugar, particularly from Sudan,” it said.
“The seized sugar was discreetly unloaded at night before being repackaged as SUCAF RCA sugar and sold to wholesalers,” it added.
It said the rebels received commissions for every shipment seized.
The SUCAF refinery and its 5,137-hectare (12,693-acre) plantation lie some 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of the capital Bangui in the Ngakobo area, in UPC-controlled territory.
The alleged deal came to an end when the CAR army, backed by Russian paramilitaries, forced the UPC out of the zone in March this year, The Sentry said.
– Failed coup bid –
The UPC is one of the largest and best equipped rebel groups in the former French colony, and its members reputedly control many operating mines.
It was part of a coalition that mounted a failed bid to topple President Faustin Archange Touadera in December.
CAR descended into a sectarian crisis pitting Seleka rebels and Christian vigilante self-defence groups known as anti-Balaka, which means anti-machete, in 2013.
The civil war has left large swathes of territory in rebel control.
The Sentry alleged that in 2018 UPC leader Ali Darassa and his then number two, Hassan Bouba — now CAR’s livestock minister — were behind an attack on a displaced people’s camp that left at least 112 people dead including 19 children.
In exchange for protecting the Ngakobo site, it said, Darassa and Bouba received around 10,000 euros ($11,700) a year between 2014 and 2021 — a hefty income in one of the world’s poorest countries.
