According to information obtained from the financial departments of several Lebanese business operators established in the Central African Republic, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has accumulated a debt of nearly 12 billion CFA francs. But no one really knows what this money is for. No one knows if this debt is personal or if it binds the Central African state. No one knows how it will be repaid.

Twelve billion CFA francs. That’s an enormous sum for a country like the Central African Republic. It’s equivalent to several months’ civil service salaries. It’s more than the annual budget of several ministries. And yet, this money was borrowed in complete secrecy, without any transparency, without any parliamentary oversight.

The question is: what for? Touadéra isn’t building hospitals. He isn’t paving roads. He isn’t paying contract teachers’ salaries on time. So where is this money going?

The most likely answer points to Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group and Rwandan troops. Maintaining these thousands of foreign soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic costs a fortune. In 2023, the CNC revealed that President Touadéra was withdrawing 400 million CFA francs per week from the public treasury to finance Wagner’s needs: housing, food, fuel, ammunition, and equipment.

Four hundred million a week. Do the math: that’s 1.6 billion a month. Nearly 20 billion a year. Just to feed and house foreign mercenaries while Central Africans starve and contract teachers and some civil servants wait months for their salaries.

At the time, the IMF had raised the alarm. After verification, the international financial institution confirmed the information. Prime Minister Félix Moloua , who was in New York, rushed back to Bangui. And instead of rectifying the situation, he summoned the officials of the Ministry of Finance to threaten them. He called them traitors. He forbade them from providing any information whatsoever about Wagner’s financing.

The message was clear: total silence. Absolute secrecy. No one was to know how much the Russian mercenaries were really costing the Central African people.

But since the IMF warning, the regime has changed its strategy. Instead of openly withdrawing money from the public treasury, Touadéra is now reportedly turning to Lebanese economic operators. The system is said to be simple: the Lebanese provide goods and services (food, housing, equipment) to the Russian mercenaries. In exchange, the regime grants them massive customs exemptions on their imports.

The result: Wagner is paid. The Lebanese get their money back by not paying taxes. And the Central African state loses tens of billions in customs revenue. Everyone wins, except the Central African people who are left with a debt-ridden and resource-poor state.

This system would explain the enormous discrepancies observed by the IMF in government revenues. Forecasts are never met. Customs revenues are collapsing. But no one offers any explanation. Because everything happens in the shadows, far from official channels, far from any oversight.

Do Russian mercenaries sleep in Lebanese hotels? Do they eat in their restaurants? Do they use their equipment? And does the debt accumulate month after month with no repayment in sight? No one can answer these questions because everything is kept secret.

The other important question remains unanswered: is this 12 billion debt personal to Touadéra or does it bind the Central African state? In other words: is Touadéra borrowing in his own name or will the Central African people have to repay it after he leaves office?

The situation is completely unclear. No official documents. No public contracts. No trace in the state accounts. Everything is done informally, based on opaque arrangements between the president and Lebanese businessmen.

This lack of transparency is dangerous. If this debt binds the state, future generations of Central Africans will have to repay it. They will be paying to finance mercenaries who terrorize them today. They will be paying to enrich economic operators who profit from the system of corruption established by Touadéra.

And if the debt is personal, then Touadéra is using his position as president to borrow money he will never repay. He is turning the presidency into a personal enrichment enterprise. He is using state resources as collateral for his private affairs.

In both cases, it’s corruption. In both cases, it’s embezzlement. In both cases, it’s a crime against the Central African people.

Touadéra is taking on debt everywhere. From the Lebanese. From international financial partners. From anyone who agrees to lend him money without asking questions. And meanwhile, the people of the Central African Republic are sinking deeper into poverty.

France bears a heavy responsibility in this situation. It was France that imposed Touadéra on the country in 2016. It was France that kept him in power in 2020. And now, France watches the country descend into chaos without doing anything.

This is unprecedented in the history of the Central African Republic. Even under the most corrupt dictatorships, there was at least some semblance of civility. But with Touadéra, anything goes. The debt is piling up without limit. Corruption is rampant. Russian mercenaries are killing and massacring while controlling the country.

The IMF must intervene. The institution must demand that the Central African government explain this 12 billion debt. What is this money being used for? How will it be repaid? Who is really benefiting from it?