Terrorism enters presidential elections in Central Africa

Ahmed Adel

A sudden, widespread attack by armed groups in western Central African Republic prompted the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers on Friday, December 18, considering it a deliberate attempt to corrupt the presidential and legislative elections that are supposed to take place on December 27.

Spokesman for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) Vladimir Monteiro said that the mission deployed forces in Bossemptélé and Bossembélé, two towns in the Ombella-M’Poko region, targeted by attacks by militants of the Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation (3R) group, the Central African Patriotic Movement (MPC) and the Anti-Balaka movement.

These three major groups that control two-thirds of the territory of the Central African Republic had threatened to attack the authority of Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadera if he resorted to fraud to win a second term.

Sources from humanitarian organizations and the United Nations stated that armed groups have seized areas on the axes leading to the capital, Bangui, which are under siege from a distance.

The UN mission said that the reinforcement of MINUSCA’s resources, including by air means, is a response to the violence committed by these groups that also affected Yaloke and Bozoum, which are about 200 km from Bangui, and resulted in the deaths of two members of the government forces.

On Friday, December 18, UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the escalation of violence in the Central African Republic, calling on all parties to urgently stop all forms of hostility.

Guterres called for any dispute to be resolved peacefully in the interests of the people.

There is great tension in the Central Africa Republic, as the regime of President Touadera accused former President François Bozize, whose candidacy was rejected by the Constitutional Court, of preparing a plan to destabilize the country, while the opposition fears major fraud in the elections.

A civil war devastated the Central African Republic after a coalition of armed groups, Seleka, overthrew the regime of General Bozize in 2013, and clashes between Seleka and Anti-Balaka militias resulted in thousands of deaths.

Since 2018, the war has turned into a less intense conflict, with armed groups competing for control of the country’s resources, especially livestock and minerals, while regularly committing violations against civilians.

Bozize was suspected of organizing a bloody counter-insurgency from his exile, but he remained extremely popular despite UN sanctions accusing him of supporting Anti-Balaka militias, which, according to the United Nations, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2013 and 2014.

Armed groups control three-quarters of the Central African Republic, which has a population of 4.9 million and is classified among the world’s poorest countries, although it is rich in diamonds. These armed groups regularly commit violations against civilians.