CAR Prime Minister, Rebel Group, Biker Over Status Of Bokolobo Village

Firmin Ngrebada, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic says the country’s soldiers have recaptured the village of Bokolobo which is the stronghold of a rebel group, the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), led by Ali Darrassa.

But the UPC has countered the government, maintaining that Bokolobo is still strongly under the control of its forces.

HumAngle was informed that CAR soldiers have entered the village and the UPC fighters along with their Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) allies have since abandoned the area.

“While the UPC combatants were joining forces with their CPC allies in the fight for the capital Bangui, they left the underbelly of their fief open, thus enabling the FACA forces to easily take over Bokolobo,” a soldier with the UN peacekeeping Blue Helmets told HumAngle in Bangui.

“The overrunning of the village by FACA forces has been a serious psychological blow to the UPC since it is their fief so they have been trying all they can to retake the locality but they are yet to succeed.”

“It is strongly doubted whether they will ever succeed in the near or far future to retake their fief.” 

Meanwhile, the CAR soldiers supported by their Rwandan and Russian mercenary allies have continued their push to recapture all territories occupied by CPC and other rebel groups in the country.

The forces on the western front have since recaptured the frontier villages close to Garoua-Boulai in Cameroon, including the locality of Gamboula.

On the eastern front, FACA forces and their allies have arrived in the Ngakobo zone, another stronghold of the UPC, where the national forces have not been present for several years.

“Our forces will continue to progress towards the east in order to definitively restore order and security. That is what we are going to do everywhere,” the Prime Minister declared.

The prime objectives of the government are to retake control of the borders, the principal highways and the mineral sites such as Ndassima and Totoyo.

On the ground in certain localities, fighting has been continuing with combatants of the CPC generally withdrawing in the face of advances by CAR soldiers and their allies. The main intention of the national army was to consolidate its presence in the recaptured areas and restore peace and security on the highways.

However, the CPC in a communique made public on Wednesday, March 10, declared that its continued retreat from positions it was occupying was in respect of the recommendations of the regional summit held in Luanda, Angola on Jan. 29, 2021.

The CPC reassured its followers that its capacities are “quasi-intact,” adding that it has taken note of the refusal by President Faustin Archange Touadera to engage in dialogue, a situation which would result in the “hardening of our military and security position.”