The number of Central African soldiers killed in clashes on Tuesday with the rebel coalition Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) in the town of Ndah has risen to 20, while thirteen others were wounded and another 24 soldiers were reportedly captured, as reported by local media.
According to the Corbeau News portal, the fighting also resulted in the death of a CPC member and the wounding of four other rebels, among them Aba Tom, a former fighter of the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central Africa (FPRC) in the Bria region. The locality is currently in the hands of the rebel coalition.
The Central African authorities have not yet commented on these clashes in Ndah, the scene in April 2022 of the death of numerous civilians allegedly at the hands of the Wagner Group, which led the United Nations to open an investigation.
The presence of Wagner mercenaries in the country was requested by the Central African president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, to support the army’s operations against the CPC, led by the former president and rival of the current government, François Bozizé.
The offensive by the CPC — which brings together several rebel groups, including several signatories of the 2018 peace agreement — was launched after the courts rejected Bozizé’s candidacy for the 2019 elections, in which Touadéra won re-election amid allegations of fraud by several opposition parties.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
