Anti-Rwanda hate speech spreads

Political-military opposition groups in the Central African Republic (CAR), mainly supporters of the rebel Coalition des Patriotes pour l’echange (CPC), are hell-bent on stirring up protests against Rwandan troops in their country.

 

They especially influence anti-Rwanda hate speech akin to what Congolese leaders in Kinshasa, and their diaspora compatriots have pushed in recent months, and in the past.

 

In August, CPC diehards and their minders mobilised followers in Europe for demonstrations at the Rwandan Embassy in Paris, France.

 

Though minimal, thanks largely to the presence of Rwandan troops – within the UN peacekeeping mission in CAR and under a special bilateral arrangement with Bangui – the country continues to face a threat from the CPC whose obvious mission is to plug the country into a new cycle of violence.

 

The rebel coalition is led by the country’s former leader Francois Bozizé, a former general who seized power in a 2003 coup before being toppled by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels a decade later.

 

Amidst continued political turmoil, Bozizé fled into exile as a rebel coalition (the Seleka rebels) overrun the sparsely populated country of 4.7 million people and took the capital.

 

He fled the country, allegedly supporting a mostly Christian militia known as the anti-Balaka from afar, which resulted in UN sanctions against him. Despite an international warrant for his arrest, the 75-year-old slipped back into CAR in late 2019 after years in exile. He announced his presidential candidacy in July 2020. The country's top court barred him, in December 2020, from running because it determined that he did not satisfy the "good morality" requirement for candidates. Deadly then clashes erupted after the constitutional court rejected his candidacy to run for president that year.

 

Despite his denials, Bozize heads the CPC, a coalition hastily formed in December 2020 to disrupt the then presidential and parliamentary elections. At the time, ahead of presidential elections, six opposition armed groups formed a new alliance, CPC, and launched an offensive against the government. The emboldened rebel coalition quickly took control of major towns and large areas of the country and eventually reached the outskirts of Bangui.

 

Despite the presence of more than 12,000 peacekeepers from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the CAR (MINUSCA), in 2020, Bangui solicited the help of Russia and Rwanda – through separate bilateral agreements – to help bolster it’s security forces.

 

The CAR government, with Russian and Rwandan military reinforcements, defended Bangui and mounted a successful counteroffensive. Soon after, the government army and its allies succeeded in retaking several towns previously occupied by the armed groups.

 

Bozizé’s defeated coalition was punched in the face when the Rwandans especially took charge of major security operations in the capital – including providing protection to President Faustin-Archange Touadéra – and strategic facilities in other key areas. They determinedly repulsed,  time and again, the CPC militia’s attempts to take Bangui from different fronts.

 

The presence of Rwandans in the CAR means Bozizé’s people can never topple the democratically elected government in Bangui. Bozizé and his people know they have lost the military battle.

 

With help from forces of evil, perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and their Western backers, the Bozizé’ coalition has hanged tact. A smear campaign against the Rwandan government and army, they hope, will help drive the very efficient Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) out of the CAR. With the latter out, Bozizé knows he can take power in a day, and put a halt to Touadéra’s national rebuilding effort. The ongoing smear campaign is therefore his last card.

 

Bozizé and his henchmen claim that the current Rwanda-CAR relationship will bring more support to Touadéra to modify the Constitution so as to gain a third term in office.

 

A source in the CAR government told Jeune Afrique that the opposition’s plan does not end with the protests.

 

They also hope to gain allies inside the neighbouring  Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) whose relationship with both Rwanda and CAR is currently frosty.

 

For years now, Rwandan troops have played a vital role in securing the CAR. Besides ensuring the protection of former president Catherine Samba-Panza, between 2014 and 2016, and ensuring the peaceful presidential election of 2016 won by then Prime Minister,  Touadéra, the Rwandans also saved the day as the country geared to the December 27, 2020, elections.

 

Bozizé and his coalition – comprising foreign mercenaries – again plotted attacks to derail the democratic process.

 

But the Rwandan peacekeepers minding security in the city would not allow that and the election was a success. People, assured of their security, turned up in big numbers and cast their vote.

 

Since then, Rwanda-CAR relations have flourished.

 

In 2021, additional troops were sent to CAR under a newfangled bilateral agreement. These troops’ key task was to secure the main supply route connecting Bangui, to Cameroon which was blocked by the attacks of the rebel coalition.

 

The blockade of Bangui was a rebel tactic to strangle the capital economically and force the government to the negotiating table. Again, Rwanda came to the rescue, neutralized the attacks and re-opened the route after only two weeks.

 

Rwandan troops have worked towards ending the violence and massacres in CAR.

 

They protect civilians, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, and ensure the protection of President Touadéra, but also have the goal of  providing his government the support it needs for a stable political environment.