Central African Republic Soldiers Kill Businessman, Accuse Him Of Working With Rebels
The businessman had gone to a meeting with some herders who work for him and was killed by FACA soldiers for conniving with ‘rebels.’
The sub-prefecture of Gamboula in the Central African Republic has been plunged into shock and disbelief following the brutal killing of a Peuhl businessman by soldiers of the national army, FACA.
HumAngle understands that the incident happened on Friday, Sept. 3 in Dilapoko village, under Noufou council, situated 85 km to the north of Gamboula on the Beina highway.
“The businessman who also reared cows had left his house Friday, Sept. 3, to go and meet the herdsmen who take care of his cows,” a civil society activist in the village told HumAngle.
“On his way back from his meeting with the herders around 3 p.m., he was ambushed by soldiers of the Central African Republic national army who killed him in cold blood.”
The incident has been greeted with condemnation by the citizens who question the authority of the soldiers to attack and kill innocent citizens.
“Being in uniform does not authorise anybody to kill in this way,” a cousin of the businessman who did not want his identity revealed declared.
“What is very surprising about this killing is that it was the FACA soldiers themselves who went and announced the murder of the businessman to his family and they confessed the man was killed by them. They accused him of collaborating with the rebels.”
The distraught family members and other business people in the area have called on government and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) to take more stringent action against trigger-happy FACA soldiers by ensuring that criminal elements within the forces are brought to book and severely punished.
A Russian helicopter had last week pounded a village killing two civilians and wounded three others in a locality that is just 15 km from the village of Dilapoko.
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