March 2022 attacks in the Central African Republic

Between March and April 2022, Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, supported by Central African Republic (CAR) armed forces, conducted a series of operations against armed groups in the northeastern prefectures of Vakaga and Bamingui-Bangoran. According to survivor testimony gathered by multiple outlets, the operations resulted in the deaths of dozens of rebel fighters and possibly hundreds of civilians, including citizens of Chad, Niger, Sudan and CAR who were working in the region as artisanal miners, herders and camel drivers. Thousands of people were displaced.

The operations began on 6–9 March with actions against fighters from the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) in Ndah and along the Chari axis, and a clash with local herders in Tiri. On 11 March, Wagner mercenaries leaving N'Délé were engaged near Gounda village by rebels from the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central African Republic (FPRC); the two-hour clash left four Russians, six rebels and two civilians dead. After arriving in Gordil on 13 March, mercenaries conducted door-to-door searches and opened fire on a panicking population, killing at least 20 people. A separate group attacked Tiringoulou the same day, killing 12 people, including an FPRC general, his wife and three children, as well as the local village chief.

On the night of 14–15 March, clashes in Sikkikede between Wagner forces and rebels from FPRC, RPRC and MLCJ left at least 20 dead on both sides and caused fires; many civilians fled to Birao and Chad. Mercenaries subsequently moved through Boromata, where three herders were killed, and Birao, from which rebel groups withdrew toward the Sudanese border. Before turning back toward N'Délé near the border village of Am Dafok, the mercenaries killed nine camel drivers. By 1 April, 523 refugees had arrived in N'Délé from Bamingui-Bangoran and Vakaga. On 11–12 April, further operations in Gordil and Ndah killed between 10 and 22 people and destroyed motorcycles, prompting a UN investigation.

Separately, between 14 and 18 March 2022, survivors who fled to Sudan reported that Russian mercenaries attacked civilians in mining areas around Andaha, Silonka and Gordil using attack helicopters, tanks and armed vehicles. Survivors interviewed by Middle East Eye and Darfur24 described dozens of deaths, looting, and mercenaries pursuing fleeing miners toward the Sudanese border. One survivor reported that 50 people, including six family members, were killed in an attack near Andaha; another described seeing at least 20 bodies near Silonka. Other accounts described killings near a Wagner base and prayers held in Sudan for villagers killed in CAR. Artisanal miners reportedly lost millions of dollars' worth of property, and thirteen people from one village were reported missing after fleeing.