[ad_1]
A statement issued by the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CCP), which launched an offensive against the government last Friday, said that “a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire … will be observed across the country by all troops. combat of the patriots “.
President of the Central African Republic Faustin Archange Touadéra. Image: United Nations photo.
BANGUI – A rebel coalition that has been fighting the government of the Central African Republic said it would observe a unilateral ceasefire before the next elections.
A statement issued by the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CCP), which launched an offensive against the government last Friday, said that “a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire … will be observed across the country by all troops. combat of the patriots “.
The statement, dated Wednesday, was confirmed to AFP on Thursday as authentic by two of the six CCP groups.
The creation of the CCP was announced on December 19 by armed groups who accused President Faustin Archange Touadera, who is seeking a second term, of trying to fix the December 27 elections.
Its components are some of the armed groups that control most of the territory of the impoverished country.
Over the weekend, the government accused Touadera’s ousted predecessor, Francois Bozize, of conspiring with the militias and attempting to stage a coup.
The armed groups tried to advance along the main roads towards Bangui, but were detained, according to the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA.
The clashes that had broken out in various areas stopped Thursday, the NGOs and the UN said.
Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections are seen as a key test of the conflict-ravaged country’s ability to regain stability.
The CCP’s statement was confirmed by two armed groups: the 3R and the Popular Front for the Renaissance of Central Africa (FPRC).
The statement called on the government to “also observe a ceasefire during the same period” and urged Touadera, the leader in the vote, to “suspend the elections, whose conditions for a solid organization have never been good.”
The government spokesman, Ange-Maxime Kazagui, dismissed the document, which he said was “unsigned”.
“It is a unilateral ceasefire, a non-event, and we have not seen these people stop what they are doing,” he told AFP.
Rich in minerals but ranked as the second poorest country in the world according to the Human Development Index, the Central African Republic has been chronically unstable since its independence 60 years ago.
In March 2013, a civil war broke out when, for the most part, Muslim rebels from a coalition called Seleka stormed the capital and removed Bozize, a Christian and former general who had taken power a decade earlier.
Other groups, particularly Christians and animists, organized their own militias, prompting fears of sectarian-type genocide.
France sent some 2,000 soldiers under the mandate of the UN.
In 2014, the UN sent its own mission, MINUSCA, and elections were held in 2016, won by Touadera, a technocrat educated in France and Cameroon.
Since 2013, thousands of people have died and more than a quarter of the population of 4.9 million have fled their homes.
Download the EWN app on your iOS or Android device.
[ad_2]
