UPC Rebels Capture Dimbi Town After Heavy Fighting With Central African Republic Troops

An intense gunfire exchange broke out around 1 p.m. CAT on Friday, Oct. 8,  between soldiers of the Central African Republic national army, FACA, and combatants of the Unite pour la Paix en Centrafrique (UPC) rebel movement in Dimbi, a town situated not far away from Kembe town in the Base-Kotto prefecture.

Local sources told HumAngle that the rebel forces captured Dimbi town following a fire fight that lasted about seven hours. 

The FACA soldiers were outnumbered by the rebels, one of the sources said.

There were mixed reports last evening that the FACA soldiers who were expecting reinforcements as the fight went on, had taken the town back from the UPC rebels.

HumAngle could not independently confirm this claim as of the time of filing this report; some reports say the rebels withdrew from the town while others hold that the rebels were pushed out of the town by FACA soldiers. Yet other sources insist the rebels are still holding Dimbi after FACA forces were forced to withdraw from the town due to the superior fire-power of the UPC rebels.

This new attack in Basse-Kotto prefecture comes on the heels of two earlier ones on Matchika and Ngakobo.

In May this year, Dimbi town was recaptured from the hands of the rebels by FACA soldiers and their Russian mercenary allies after about four years of occupation by the rebels.

However, last week the Russian mercenaries were forced to withdraw from the town and move their troops to defend Bambari which was under attack by Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) rebels, leaving behind only a handful of FACA soldiers who were easily overcome by UPC rebels in the Friday’s attack.