French fighters fly over Central African Republic in response to rebel attacks
The rebels of the Coalition of Patriots for Change are continuing their attacks on various towns in the Central African Republic in an attempt to destabilise the situation of the current government, and are awaiting confirmation of the results they will be giving the current president, Faustin Touadera, as the winner.
The Central African Armed Forces, which are being trained by the EUTM-RCA, together with the support of the MINUSCA and Russian troops-who are also collaborating in training the Central African army-are keeping the rebels at bay for the time being. For the time being, the CPC is unable to approach the capital, but is maintaining its attacks in parts of the country which, although far from Bangui, are also of strategic interest.
As a result of these attacks, President Touadera has asked France for air support from its fighters, something that would have been approved by the Elysée Palace and MINUSCA. The French planes are said to have carried out several interventions in the country in this manner and, according to the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, one of them even took place days before election day. France is thus helping to put a stop to the rebels' advance.
As in the past weekend, attacks have taken place in two different locations: Bouar, in the west of the country, over 400 km from Bangui, and Grimari, in the central area, very close to Bambari and 300 km from the capital. Both attacks took place this Saturday. Although in the case of Bouar the attack was repelled promptly, in Grimari the fighting dragged on into the afternoon.
Bouar is precisely one of the points where the EUTM-RCA has carried out training activities for the Central African military and has also contributed to the development of several projects related to the Central African armed forces. One of these projects was the construction and adaptation of a military camp in the city, which was attended for the first time by the former High Representative for the European Union's external action, the Italian Federica Mogherini.
The CPC, which is linked to former president François Bozize, is attempting to use violence to challenge informal but unofficial election results that would validate a new mandate for Touadera. The political opposition, united around a platform that also includes Bozize's party, rejects the results as fraud, but the lack of unity around a single candidate makes its chances of victory unrealistic.
Although it is true that a significant part of the population entitled to vote was unable to go to the polls because of violence, something that the opposition is hiding behind to point out as illegitimate the results. However, it does not make sense that the violence unleashed by the CPC targeted places where the opposition's influence was strongest. In fact, one of the places recently attacked was one of the bastions of Touadera: Damara.
Although Russia's support for the current Central African government is important, France has once again become a determining factor long after it ended its Sangaris operation, which, like Barkhane in the Sahel, spent several years fighting the insurgency in the country and collaborating in stabilising it.
