Last week, three Chinese miners were abducted from a mine site in western CAR. But no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. This diamond and gold mining region of the Central African Republic is regularly the subject of tension and attacks.

A month ago, nine Chinese nationals were killed and two others wounded in an attack by armed men on a mining site in Chimbolo, near Bambari, in a gold mine in the Central African Republic. According to the government, they were "assassinated" by the country's main rebel group, which however denied any responsibility on the day of the attack.

The employees of the Chinese mining company Gold Coast Group were killed on 19 March by gunmen in a night-time attack on the Chimbolo gold mining site in the centre of the country. For the rebels of the Patriots for Change (CPC), this is a despicable and barbaric act that was planned and prepared by Russian mercenaries from Wagner. However, this armed group has been accused of attacking the mine site. An accusation that it rejects.

In this region of Bambari as in others of this vast Central African country, among the poorest in the world, gold and diamond mining has been conceded mainly since 2018 to Russian companies close to or linked to Wagner, according to the UN and NGOs, but also to some Chinese companies. Hundreds of mercenaries from Wagner had joined hundreds of others already present since 2018, when President Faustin Archange Touadéra, threatened by the CPC rebellion that was advancing towards Bangui, had called on Moscow to rescue a poorly trained and destitute army. Since their arrival, Wagner's mercenaries have helped push most of the rebels back to their home territories, allowing Central African security forces to regain control of several towns and mining operations.