Central African Republic gov’t forces on offensive kill 44 rebels

The Central African Republic (CAR) government army on January 24 launched an offensive in a village, about 90km from the capital, Bangui, and killed 44 rebels, according to reports. There were no casualties on the government side.

Mercenaries from Chad, Sudan and the Fulani ethnic group were captured, the government said on Monday. “Government forces are back on the offensive,” government spokesperson Ange-Maxime Kazagui is quoted saying.

In the past few days, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has strongly condemned attacks by the anti-Balaka, UPC, 3R and MPC coalition armed groups and their political allies, including former President François Bozizé.

Bozizé was, in 2014, placed on a UN sanctions list for committing or supporting acts that undermined the country's peace and stability. The sanctions were in reference to his support for criminal Christian militias - the anti-Balaka groups - in 2013. He also faces an international arrest warrant, initiated by the CAR in 2013, accusing him of “crimes against humanity and incitement to genocide”.

Bozizé is now leading a coalition of rebels who joined forces in December, calling themselves the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC). They are trying to block the capital, Bangui, in a bid to topple newly re-elected President Faustin Archange Touadera, and continue to carry out attacks on key national highways of the vast country.

The rebels and their backers also continue to spread rumours in the capital aimed at causing panic. They launched an offensive a week before presidential elections on December 27, 2020, trying to disrupt the poll but failed.

Bangui was protected by well-equipped UN peacekeepers, CAR troops and their Russian and Rwandan allies. Last month, Rwandan troops and Russian paramilitaries were sent to the country - under different bilateral arrangements - to reinforce federal troops. On January 18, CAR’s Constitutional Court confirmed Touadera’s re-election, for another five-year term. His government has declared war on the rebels.

According to Vladimir Monteiro, the MINUSCA spokesperson, the Mission which has lost about six of its peacekeepers in rebel attacks holds the coalition led by Bozize responsible for the consequences of the violence on the civilian population.  The UN has consistently stressed that attacks against peacekeepers can be considered as war crimes and prosecuted.

UN Mission seeks 3,000 additional troops

 In his address to the UN Security Council, Mankeur Ndiaye, the UN envoy to CAR, on January 20, said the country is at serious risk of a security and peacebuilding setback. He said the troops currently deployed act on an extremely vast territory and little provided by means of communication.

"In addition, the Force has only reaction forces limited in manpower unable to act on the whole territory because of the size of the country. Finally, critical capabilities (drones, attack helicopters, crossing capabilities or even Special Forces) are absent from the theater of operations and hamper our ability to act as well as to react."

The UN envoy said that substantial increase - by 3,000 troops - in the strength of the uniformed components of the Mission should allow it to maintain its robust posture while having greater mobility. "These additional troops will allow the mission to have a robust tool adapted to the threat. A proposal is therefore made to raise the ceiling for authorized peacekeepers to 14,650 soldiers."