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From Our Own Correspondent: The Wagner Group at work in the Central African Republic

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Figure from a monument to the Wagner Group in Bangui, Central African Republic, November 2023

16/12/2023 GMT

The Wagner Group at work in the Central African Republic

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, The Wagner Group at work in the Central African Republic

Russian private military companies, cultural clout and economic influence in Bangui

What are Russian fighters and front companies up to in Bangui? Plus: the crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong, a new era for Poland; climate risks to Tunisia's fiery harissa sauce

Pascale Harter introduces personal insights, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers around the world.

After the Wagner Group launched a failed rebellion and march on Moscow, Russia's government announced it was to be disbanded. But as Yemisi Adegoke found on the streets of Bangui, the Group seems to be still very much alive and active in the Central African Republic - and it's just one element of a wider strategy to expand Russian influence and economic involvement in the region.

Formal state occasions aren't always exciting - but in Poland, cinemas and online broadcasters have attracted huge audiences to sessions of its new government. The swearing-in of new Prime Minister Donald Tusk this week also provided some moments of high drama. Sarah Rainsford reflects on the divides in Polish society which the last eight years of nationalist government have sharpened - and the political battles which will be fought in coming months.

Danny Vincent visits a Tam Tak Chi - an activist being held in Hong Kong's Lai Chi Kok detention centre before his upcoming trial for sedition and for violating the national security law which Beijing has imposed on the territory. His is just one of dozens of cases pending under the law - and just one sign of ever-shrinking space for public dissent in the city.

And from Tunisia, Elizia Volkmann reports from the farmland which usually yields tomatoes and peppers to make one of the country's iconic products - the fiery-red spicy paste called harissa. Tunisians love to slather it on almost everything, and the Cap Bon brand of harissa is internationally known - but climate change is making it far harder for farmers to keep the industry supplied with raw materials. And more traditional, handmade harissa recipes are also in decline. Does the future threaten to be far blander?

(Image: Figures from a monument to the Wagner Group in Bangui, Central African Republic, November 2023. Credit: BBC)

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