Central African Republic’s President Faustin-Archange Touadera declared a “unilateral ceasefire” in the country’s conflict with rebel groups on Friday.
“I have come to announce to you this evening the end of military operations and all armed actions across the land from today… at midnight,” Touadera told national radio.
“This immediate, unilateral ceasefire is a demonstration… of my firm intent to prioritise the path of dialogue” after eight years of war,” he said.
The United Nations ranks the CAR as the world’s second least-developed state and its cause was only hindered by the 2013 outbreak of civil war.
The past three years has seen the intensity of the conflict drop off but terror groups continue to dominate swathes of the country and elude the authorities’ grasp.
Last December saw the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), an alliance of armed groups which together occupied some two-thirds of the nation, launched a major offensive.
The attack was designed to unseat Touadera and prevent his re-election that month.
After his re-election, Touadera promised to seek national reconciliation, while also soliciting support for his flagging army from Russian and Rwandan paramilitaries.
The foreign assistance has enabled the armed forces to wrest back control of a number of previously rebel-held towns and pushed the fighters back into the forests and the bush.
Rebels have nonetheless in recent weeks carried out several attacks albeit well outside the capital Bangui, despite the 12,000-strong presence of the UN MINUSCA force that has been in the country since 2014.
“Central African armed forces, backed by Russian and Rwandan allies, have been able to ward off the assaults of the CPC and retake much of the country’s territory,” Touadera said.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
