{
  "id": 15999415,
  "title": "Central Africa: Wood for War - How Wagner Was Paid in Central African Forest",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/central-africa-wood-for-war-how-wagner-was-paid-in-central-african",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-22T04:52:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "AllAfrica",
    "slug": "allafrica",
    "url": "https://allafrica.com/stories/202610220014.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In February 2021, Central African Republic signed a decree granting a forestry permit to Bois Rouge, a newly established company. This permit covered an area of 186,596 hectares in the Lobaye region, an area larger than Greater London. The company had no logging experience but was granted the permit due to its patronage from the Wagner Group. The Wagner Group had been providing services to the CAR, which allowed for the exchange of battlefield gains for commodities. Bois Rouge was registered in Bangui, a city in the CAR, and was represented by Russians in Shanghai. The company's commercial director was Tolmachov, who was also paid by two other companies tied to Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. The CAR's report to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and a forestry sector review recorded the permit and management plan on April 2021, less than three months after the decree. The terms of the permit were considered unlawful and cost the state and communities revenue. The company built its sawmill in Boda, a town that was cleared of rebels by government forces and Wagner shortly before the permit was issued. The export route for the timber ran from Boda to the Kassaì base in Bangui, then through Cameroon to the port of Douala. The timber exported included azobé, iroko, mukulungu, tali, and sapele. Most of the timber went to Turkey, the UAE, and China, but some reached Europe. Bois Rouge was renamed Wood International Group (WIG) and hired new Central African and Russian directors, but the company was sanctioned by the US Treasury in September 2023. In 2024, satellite images showed the Boda sawmill abandoned.",
  "summary": "[African Arguments] On 9 February 2021, as government troops and Russian mercenaries pushed rebels back from Bangui, the Central African Republic (CAR) signed Decree No. 21.044. It gave a young company called Bois Rouge a forestry permit covering 186,596 hectares in the south-western Lobaye region - roughly 1,866 km² of tropical forest, an area larger than Greater London.",
  "key_points": [
    "Central African Republic granted 186,596 hectare forestry permit to Bois Rouge in February 2021.",
    "Timber exported from Boda sawmill in CAR to Turkey, UAE, China, and Europe in 2023."
  ],
  "editors_take": "The exchange of forestry permits for military services allows paramilitary groups to bypass traditional commercial markets and extract natural wealth through unlawful state patronage.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}