CAR Rebels Lose Stronghold In Bambari After Military Offensives
Unite pour la paix en Centrafrique, UPC rebels in Central African Republic, CAR, have lost a military base after onslaught from CAR soldiers.
Rebels of the Unite pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC) movement in the Central African Republic have been chased from their principal military base which is 10 kilometres from Bambari on the Ippy highway.
The military reverses by the rebel movement led by Ali Darrassa followed violent clashes on Thursday between UPC combatants and forces of the Central African Republic army popularly known as FACA.
At about 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the Central African Republic forces supported by mercenaries of the Russian security outfit Wagner carried out an operation intended to dismantle illegal barriers mounted by UPC rebel fighters in the village of Kombele about 10 kilometres from Bambari Centre on the Ippy highway.
During the operation, two rebels were captured forcing the UPC combatants to launch a counterattack against government military positions to free their colleagues.
“The rebel counter offensive stalled the FACA fighters’ advances on rebel positions, but this did not last for long as FACA soldiers shortly afterwards regained the upper hand advancing into their main base in Bambari and forcing the UPC rebels to abandon their base,” said a military spokesperson in Bambari.
“There is a relative calm in Bambari Centre right now but there is also disquiet within the majority of the population who are apprehensive of a new round of violence that could perturb the peace that now reigns in their town,” a civil society activist told HumAngle last evening.
Since chasing away the UPC rebels from their main military base, the national forces have been bringing in more fighters to reinforce their positions in the town with a view to repelling any subsequent rebel attempts to retake the town as well as their principal military base.
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