In the darkness of Bangui nights: Estonians hunting gunmen

Photo: Kristel Maasikmets

EUFOR soldiers are accompanied by cheerful greetings from locals, slightly soured when suspecting this to be the French «Sangaris».

If asked what his most exciting task would be, the eyes of Captain Tanel Rattis, Estonian ESTP­LA-18 platoon commander in Central African Republic, light up with joyful twinkle as he says without thinking: «The night patrols, of course.»

These are a peculiar bloodless hunt. When the night falls, the unit heads to EU peacekeeping mission EUFOR RCA domain i.e. Bangui’s 3^rd or 5^th quarter for to see if any Muslim (Séléka) or Christian (anti-balaka) armed gangs are about to hurt the other party. Equipped with night-vision devices, the Estonians see it all and are able to catch the perspective baddies.

«We take our covert positions and wait for them to come close; then, we all have torch lights – we’ll blind the guy and command him to lay his weapon down,» relates Capt. Rattiste, describing what happens as they see a gunman coming. «A gunman will be ever so shocked as he discovers, in the dark, being surrounded by a bunch of soldiers.»

Baddy knows Estonian

At times, the Estonians have also gotten themselves in trouble. «Often, the men forget their French and issue orders in Estonians,» says the commander and adds, smiling, that so far all those apprehended have understood the Estonian commands.

As a sight most curious, Captain Rattiste underlines the self-defence men protecting their quarters with bows and arrows. «We have let them keep the bows, as well as the machetes which are a daily tool here; but we have confiscated firearms,» he says.

What makes it all real bloodless is that nothing much happens to those that are thus caught. «The state having no law and order, no prisons, nor any law that would ban a guy from bearing an arm, we just confiscate the weapon, take personal data and a picture, and forward this to our leadership,» says Capt. Rattiste. «And we lecture them not to walk the streets with gun in hand.»

According to him, they have detected some progress while doing service in Bangui.

To a deserted area where the two communities meet, during daytime people dare show up – to tidy up their homes. For the night, they still retreat to the depths of the quarters for shelter.

«Secondly, there are less gangs moving about, at night,» adds Capt. Rattiste. «The word has spread that, at night, you may run into a gang of Estonians and have your guns taken away.»

As stressed by Lieutenant-Colonel Sten Allik, head of the Estonian contingent, the 3^rd and 5^th districts have always been the most criminal parts of Bangui. «Talking to the French who have been on missions here 20 years ago, say, no-one ventured there at night,» he notes. «Robbery and killings, always the problems of the areas, are still a part of life in these quarters.»

Muslims besieged

«The 5^th quarter has always been mainly Christian. Earlier, it was more mixed but now it’s basically just the Christians left there,» says Lieut. Col. Allik. «Officially, most are unemployed – well they do some nitty-gritty but overall few go to work.»

«The Muslims’ quarter is next to it, the 3^rd,» he continues. «Here, the Muslims have traditionally been merchants. Naturally, all their businesses have been shut down and looted. Beholding a looted store at street side, it’s a Muslim’s.»

«It would be good in the 3^rd district for them at least to be able to do business among their own; at the moment, they have their movements restricted as there are people outside who want to catch them for the severest of ends,» notes Lieut. Col. Allik.

Even so, he is convinced that over the couple of months that ESTPLA-18 has been serving in CAR, the situation has improved. «A development being that the attitude of inhabitants towards military units has substantially changed,» he points out.

«Non à la France,» goes a widespread slogan on walls in Muslim part of town; also, the unkindest of words are aimed at the French President François Hollande. Even while patrolling in the Christian areas, the locals at times ask Estonians if they are part of the French national mission «Sangari», perhaps.

Namely, the French mission is not popular among the CAR folks. And, as admitted by Lieut. Col. Allik, there seems to be a reason. «While the major pogroms, killings and lootings of houses were going on, there were the moments with some [French] units close by, but not reacting,» he explains.

«Surely it can’t be said that the units were just unwilling to react,» Lieut. Col. Allik says in defence of the French. «Whether it was assessment of the situation, limits to operation or rules of operation, we do not know; but situations like that have occurred and this will be echoed wide and far.»

«There is a good attitude towards EUFOR and we worked hard for that,» says Lieut. Col. Allik. «I remember participating in 3^rd district meeting with leaders – community elders, merchants, heads of various movements, imams –, then, of the three hour meeting the first hour and a half all they did was cursing the French.»

«Among other things, we told them that even with French units also among us, it is not right to put equal sign between us and «Sangaris»,» he adds. «This has justified itself and out of that a relationship of trust has emerged.»

According to Capt. Rattiste, Estonian soldiers have not run into hostile attitudes in CAR. The claim was also illustrated by a scene observed while on a walking patrol around EUFOR’s Ucatex base, and riding armoured vehicles in 3^rd and 5^th districts.

During the patrol on foot, a black man behind a counter even said a cheerful «Terre!» [His Estonian carrying a slight CAR accent – edit]. Still, there was a noticeable difference between attitudes of 3^rd and 5^th people. While with the Christians, the Estonian machines rode amid constant joyful waving of hands, then the Muslim areas filled with anti-French slogans had much less greeters and the looks at times rather gloomy.

Marcin Ziezinski, Krystian Parszuta and Ryszard Skoclylas, members of the Polish gendarmerie unit only arriving at CAR two weeks ago, have been twice to Eastern Afghanistan having quite an intense district under their contingent’s care. Also, the men have served in the Balkans and Lebanon.

«This mission here is rather different,» says Captain Skoclylas. «Especially from Afghanistan where we focussed on our enemies. Here we focus on civilians. In a way, while here, we need to change our way of thinking; we must focus on the locals, how to talk to them and to gain contact.»

As they told the locals where they’d come from, no lengthy explanations were needed. «They answer «We know Poland! That’s where the Pope John Paul II came from.»,» says Capt. Skoclylas. «The larger part of them have told us that they are happy that the gendarmerie are here. They often tell us «good job».»

Mission addiction

Latvian contingent head Major Salvis Dzilna says his soldiers have not run into hostile attitudes yet – often, they hear the glad «Bonjour!». But he would not call the mission an easy one.

«We do go out in helmets and bearing arms, we use armoured vehicles. That means something,» says Maj. Dzilna. «Like that we are not allowed to visit the market in T-shirts and beach slippers. Even with no constant contact of fire, it does happen from time to time. Last week, three Frenchmen were hurt in a grenade attack. We need to keep alert.»

Finnish Major Arto Ylä-Kotola thinks that from the locals- point of view the overall situation is still quite hopeless. «But they are passive and ignore exchange of fire even if it’s close by,» he adds. «It looks like they are counting on international aid to guarantee security. They are really happy to see soldiers. They tell our interpreters that they’d wish we would be with them more often – if possible.»

The journalist’s trip to Central African Republic was supported by foreign ministry.