CPC Tackles Central African Republic Government Over Incursion Into Chadian Territory

The Central African Republic (CAR) rebel movement, Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) has rejected accusations by the CAR government that its soldiers entered Chadian territory on Sunday, May 30, 2021 in pursuit of CPC rebels.

In a statement issued in Paris, France on Thursday, June 3, 2021, the CPC said none of its fighters was involved in any clash around the border with Chad on May 30, 2021.

“Since the past three months, the CPC has been observing a ceasefire imposed by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) but it retaliates when its positions in Central African Republic territory are attacked,” the rebel group said in the statement.  

“On the contrary, it is the mercenaries of Wagner company who voluntarily entered Chadian territory with a view to testing the military retaliatory capacity of the new regime of General Mahamat Idriss Deby within the perspective of a programmed destabilisation of Chad on the one hand and extending their hegemony within the Central African zone.”

The CPC statement said recent accusations and threats by the Russian ambassador to the Central African Republic and military Russian adviser against the government of Chad were already preparing public opinion for the said attack.

“The CPC had denounced this hazardous diplomacy supported by President Touadera who contracted a military alliance with the mafia and Russian mercenaries who thus find the Central African Republic as an open door for the appropriation of mineral resources in the Central African zone by the destabilisation of their respective states.” the CPC statement continued.

The rebel group said with the kind of irresponsible and disastrous diplomacy being practiced by his government, President Touadera has become a danger for the other states in the sub-region which risks being plunged into war if he is not stopped on time.

“This reprehensible act is of extreme gravity to the bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries,” the CPC statement declared, adding that the government of President Touadera is solely responsible for the premeditated attack targeted against Chadian territory and the war crimes that followed.

It further revealed that “besides stealing arms, ammunition and other materials belonging to the Chadian army, the Russian mercenaries had the audacity to detach and carry away the Chadian flag that was flying on its pole, which is a negation of the sovereignty of Chad on its territory and a declaration of war.”

Following the May 30, 2021 incident between the Chadian and Central African Republic military in the Chadian town of Sourou which resulted in the death of six Chadian soldiers, the Central African Republic issued a statement saying its soldiers crossed into Chadian territory in pursuit of CPC rebels.

But the CPC “categorically rejects the false accusations of the government of the Central African Republic against it and vigorously condemns the incursion and the attack by Russian mercenaries of the Wagner company on Chadian territory” and “presents its condolences to the Chadian authorities and the brotherly people of Chad as well as to the Chadian and Central African Republic families affecte.d”

The statement went on to say that the CPC “salutes the mediation by the sub regional authorities for their active diplomacy with a view to easing the trans-border crisis and the putting in place of an international independent and impartial investigation.”

The rebel movement called for the withdrawal, without preconditions, from the Central African Republic of the Russian mercenaries of Wagner group.

It also congratulated and encouraged the joint mission of the United Nations, the African Union, European Union ECCAS which has arrived in Bangui to contribute towards  stability and peace through an inclusive republican dialogue.

The CPC finally “respectfully calls on the international mediator in the Central African Republic crisis, His Excellency Denis Sassou Nguesso to re-appropriate the Central African Republic crisis dossier” and “reiterates its appeal to the Central African Republic government to summons an inclusive dialogue in order to re-establish peace, national reconciliation and veritable development in the Central African Republic.”