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137 Central African Republic Security Forces Taking Refuge In Cameroon Return Home

Soldiers and police officers from the Central African Republic who escaped to Cameroon from the war front in their country in Dec. 2020 have returned home.

One hundred and thirty-seven soldiers and police officers from the Central African Republic who escaped from the war in their country and took refuge in Garoua-Boulai on the Cameroonian side of the border have returned home.

HumAngle learnt that they arrived in Bangui, the country’s capital on Sunday, March 7.

The soldiers and police officers in Dec. 2020 ran away from the troubled country to seek refuge in Garoua-Boulai.

Their return comes on the heels of the relative calm that is progressively returning to the country, following the rooting out of Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) rebels who have been disturbing the peace in the country since Dec.2020.


Before they left for the Central African Republic on Sunday, a special ceremony to mark their departure was organised in Garoua-Boulai and presided over by Gregoire Mvongo, the Governor of the East Region.

“We have judged that the situation in the Central African Republic is on the verge of stabilising and that this brotherly country is in need of the elements of their army to secure its territory and protect the populations. It is for this reason that they are being repatriated,” Mvongo said during the ceremony.

During the farewell ceremony, documents were signed between the two countries represented respectively by Governor Gregoire Mvongo for Cameroon and Leopold Bruno Izamo, the Inspector General of the Central African Republic army for his country.

In conformity with laid down regulations concerning the retrocession of arms, 70 Kalashnikov rifles, rocket launchers, ammunition and other military equipment which the soldiers came to Cameroon with were returned to the Central African Republic government.

The Central African Republic representative expressed delight with the good health of the 137 soldiers and police officers and thanked the Cameroon government for taking good care of them.

“They were fed, given shelter, protected and treated medically. The Central African Republic government thanks the Cameroonian authorities for this hospitality,” Izamo declared.

“We will continue to work in a collegial manner as concerns security at the level of our frontiers.”


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Chief Bisong Etahoben

Chief Bisong Etahoben is a Cameroonian investigative journalist and traditional ruler. He writes for international media and has participated in several transnational investigations. Etahoben won the first-ever Cameroon Investigative Journalist Award in 1992. He serves as a member of a number of international investigative journalism professional bodies including the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR). He is HumAngle's Francophone and Central Africa editor.

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