The Central African Republic (CAR) has declared a state of emergency for the next 15 days after armed groups tried to attack the capital, Bangui, in a bid to overthrow newly re-elected President Faustin Archange Touadera, reported Africa News.
President Touadera was re-elected in the first round of a presidential election held on December 27, 2020. He won with 53 percent of votes cast by 35 percent of registered voters. But, the opposition rejected the result and appealed to the court to order a re-run of the voting, saying the election was marred by alleged irregularities.
Albert Yaloke Mokpeme, the spokesperson for the presidency of the CAR, made the announcement on national radio on Thursday. He said the state of emergency was applicable throughout the country for 15 days starting from midnight January 21 until February 4.
The state of emergency has been imposed after six armed groups collectively carried out sporadic attacks in towns far from the capital and on the RN3 highway.
An alliance of armed groups, known as the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), launched attacks ahead of the December voting, which saw incumbent President, Faustin-Archange Touadera, returned to power. Former President Francois Bozize and his allies have been accused of inciting the violence, which erupted after the constitutional court rejected his candidacy in December.
Last week, rebel groups opposed to Touadera”s re-election tried to invade Bangui. Security forces backed by U.N. peacekeepers successfully repelled the attack, which was blamed on Bozize and his allies.
On Thursday, Mankeur Ndiaye, the top UN official in the Central African Republic (CAR), made an appeal to the Security Council to deploy more peacekeepers and equipment after recent deadly attacks by armed groups.
He said this “new security situation” is testing its ability to ensure civilians are protected.
“We need an increase in our capacity in order to respond to this new threat which is destabilizing the country even further”, Mr. Ndiaye added.
