FPRC Rebels In Central African Republic Quit After Leader’s Death

Several combatants of the Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de Centrafrique (FPRC) have left the group after Zakaria Damanem, their leader, was killed on Saturday, Feb. 12, by Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic.

In a collective resignation letter made public in Bangui, the capital on Wednesday, Feb. 16, the former FPRC fighters accused the Central African Republic President, Faustin Archange Touadera of masterminding the assassination of their leader.

The aggrieved former FPRC members tagged the Central African Government under President Touadera its policies as “machiavellian and genocidal”.

“Despite the signature of the Political Accord for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic (PAPR-CAR) followed automatically by organised crimes against the population of the northeast region by allies of President Touadera on the one hand and the formation of the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) on the other hand, the FPRC was profoundly divided into two factions,” part of the resignation letter read.

“One faction led by Nouredine Adam which quit the PAPR-CAR to join the CPC and the faction led by Osta Ali which remained loyal and eventually became the slave of the PAPR-CAR, some of us remained with Osta Ali.”

“In order to see peace, justice and democracy shine in our country, we refused to join the CPC.”

“We accepted to honour our engagement to the PAPR-CAR process which enabled the organisation of free and transparent elections in 2021 in Bria, Birao and Ndele as well as our adhesion to the disarmament, demobilisation and reinsertion (DDR) process.”

“But as payback, we continue to be subject to the same treatment as members of the CPC by government which includes torture, abductions, summary and extrajudicial executions, profanation, decapitation, and confiscation of corpses.”

The former FPRC members accused President Touadera and his Russian allies of using explosives to kill FPRC sympathisers, traffic in human organs, the destruction of shops and worship places.

They lamented that their “women, sisters, mothers are violated in our presence, in front of our children, a humiliation which we have never experienced.”

“Instead of giving clear indications in the application of the Khartoum peace accord, Touadera prefers to manipulate to his own advantage, our representative in government with a view to eternally remain in power,” they alleged in the letter.

“How does one explain that representatives proposed for inclusion in the government by Nouredine Adam and Ali Darassa are still ministers whereas their leaders have since joined the CPC rebels? It is finished. We have for a very long time obeyed the lies and political crookery of Touadera who has been rubbing the Central African people in mud creating the impression that our people do not have the brains to reflect and understand.”

“Within the machiavelic tactic of making us angry and profit from the force of his Russian mercenaries, Touadera planned the assassination of Zakaria Damane despite the fact that he was not armed. 

“Where is the respect of international humanitarian law? What is the role of justice? All these things were done with the sole goal of eradicating all previous accords by the use of violence. We saw the trap and they also succeeded in making us angry. That is what Touadera wanted but we shall see who would be the first to bear the consequences of his trap.”

“In view of the above, we the combatants of the FPRC find ourselves at the crossroads between Wagner and the CPC and consequently, we through this letter announce our resignation and I resign from the post of Political Coordinator of the eastern sector of the FPRC, and also our total withdrawal from the FPRC,” the letter signed by an individual going by the single name “Tourkach” declared.

The letter announced the allegiance of the resigning FPRC combatants to the Party for the Reunification of the Central African Nation (PRCAN) led by Gregaza Nourd.