The Central African Republic (CAR) has seen a sharp rise in gender-based violence, with Russian mercenaries, particularly from the Wagner Group, being implicated in numerous cases of rape and sexual abuse. According to the Africa Defence Forum (ADF), a magazine published quarterly by US Africa Command, Wagner mercenaries, who have been stationed in the Central African Republic since 2018 to support President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s regime and protect Russia’s mining interests, have increasingly become feared by the local population. Reports of atrocities committed by these forces are on th…