5 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has announced the release of 19 Central African soldiers who were kidnapped on February 14 in the north of the country by the rebel Patriots for Change Coalition (CPC).
In a press release published by the Corbeau News portal, the CPC has announced the “unilateral and voluntary release” of the combatants, criticizing the Government for not wanting to negotiate with them and criticizing the ineffective management of the Army.
According to the statement, the government preferred to see the soldiers “dead rather than alive” in order to accuse the group and “discredit their struggle.” They have also directly criticized the Central African president, Faustin Archange Touadéra, for “sending soldiers to the front without the necessary financial, logistical and material means.”
The president, for his part, had condemned this and other crimes by the CPC the day before, stating that “they will not remain unpunished,” according to the Central African portal ‘Abangui’.
“I would like to remind the leaders of the CPC of the meaning of international law and our Penal Code. Taking hostages is a heinous crime, which deserves the highest condemnation as it violates the inherent rights of people,” he said during a press conference. .
The origin of this rebel group dates back to the elimination of the candidacy of former President François Bozizé, who returned to the country at the end of 2019 to once again be a candidate for the Presidency. After this, several armed groups, including some members of the 2015 peace agreement, formed the CPC to launch an offensive against the capital to try to remove the current president from power.
