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Last Updated: Jun 28, 2009 - 8:14:23 AM |
After the surprising detention of their leader in Chad, a Central
African Republic (CAR) rebel group has mounted new attacks on
government forces to press for his release, according to CAR government
spokesmen. The rebels belong to the Convention des Patriotes pour la
Justice et la Paix (Convention of Patriots for Peace and Justice -
CPJP), led by the recently detained Charles Massi, a former minister of
mines and agriculture in the government of the CAR. Massi was ousted
from his post when the government of President Ange-Félix Patassé was
overthrown by General François Bozizé, the current ruler of the CAR. In
recent years the violence in the CAR has become closely tied to
political violence in neighboring Chad and Darfur.
Rebels claimed to have killed 24 soldiers in the June 12 attack, while
government forces claimed 15 rebels and three soldiers killed (AFP,
June 17). According to the Defense Ministry, fighting began after the
CPJP rebels attacked a Forces armées Centrafricaines (Central African
Armed Forces - FACA) column at Akroub Soulban in the Ndele region (Le
Confident [Bangui], June 15). CPJP spokesman Assan M'bringa Togbo said
the combat, lasting several hours, began when six heavily armed FACA
vehicles attacked their camp (AFP, June 13).
Massi's arrest came unexpectedly after Massi left Paris for N'Djamena,
where he had meetings with leading Chadian officials and sought
President Idriss Déby's mediation in his dispute with the CAR
government (Le Confident [Bangui], June 8; June 11). His arrest was
reported to have come in mid-May as he headed towards the CAR border
(Radio France Internationale, June 5). CAR President Bozizé has close
ties with the Déby regime and came to power with Chadian military
assistance. Many members of the Presidential Guard, the best-equipped
element of the ramshackle armed forces, are from Chad.
Massi has been charged with "attempted destabilisation of a
neighbouring country." The CPJP has written Idriss Déby, asking for
Massi's release on the grounds he "in no way represents a danger either
to internal or external security nor to the national and territorial
security of Chad" (AFP, June 17).
It is difficult to say what direction the leaderless CPJP will now
take, considering that the movement exists solely as a manifestation of
Massi's political ambitions. Junior Defense Minister Jean-Francis
Bozizé (son of President Bozizé) says the CPJP is seeking to use any
means "to maintain a climate of insecurity in the country" (AFP, June
17). The CPJP has established a stronghold in the Ndele region and has
so far refused to participate in the CAR peace process, aimed at
reconciling a host of rebel movements with the Bozizé government.
The other main rebel group still outside the peace process is led by
General Abdoulaye Miskine (a.k.a. Martin Koumta-Madji), a Chadian
mercenary who inserted himself into CAR politics after acting as a
military adviser to President Patassé. With most of the CAR army based
in Bangui, the rest of the country is open ground for rebel movements,
cattle raiders and coupeurs de routes (highwaymen). Forming an armed
group has become the standard way of expressing political viewpoints or
resolving political disputes in the CAR. A Bangui daily reported the
formation on May 23 of yet another rebel movement, the National
Movement for the Fatherland's Salvation, whose central dispute is with
the leadership of an existing rebel movement, the Movement of Central
African Liberators for Justice (L'Hirondelle, June 11).
Source:Ocnus.net 2009
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