CAR, Chad Conduct Separate Military Operations Amid Border Security Concerns
This week, the Central African Republic (CAR) army and Wagner Group mercenaries carried out a military exercise in Ouham-Fafa Prefecture near the border with Chad.
In response to growing security concerns along its shared border, Chad has increased its troop presence and patrols, collaborating with French forces in the region, amid allegations that CAR is planning to use anti-government armed groups and mercenaries.
Chadian rebel leader Baba Ladde is reported to have been recruiting fighters from Lim-Pende in northern CAR to launch an attack against Chad.
Relations between CAR and Chad have often been tense. The two countries have accused each other of harboring armed rebels.
Charles Bouessel, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Group, said CAR is not cooperating with its neighbor in dealing with rebels trying to destabilize Chad.
“We heard about two more Chadian groups, which tried to settle bases in the Vakaga prefecture in CAR not far from the Chadian border," said Bouessel. "And we have seen at the beginning no response or no reaction from the Central African authority concerning these armed groups and so it raises some questions about at least the passivity of the central African authorities to arm these armed groups or even some kind of complicity.”
Some Western countries have expressed concern about the stability of Chad.
According to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which tracks political violence and protest around the world, there have been 437 attacks recorded in the past 12 months in CAR and Chad, killing at least 1,000 people.
Bouessel says increased security activities along the border by CAR authorities are to pressure Chad not to work with armed groups.
“Testimony has flagged that Wagner have been providing some weapons and some equipment to arm these armed groups but from what we can assess now I doubt that the equipment delivered will be a game changer but it must be seen as a way for the Central African authority to put more pressure on Chad so that Chad accept[s] to cooperate a little bit more about all Central African rebels who are hosted in N'djamena and elsewhere," said Bouessel.
Professor Chacha Nyaigoti Chacha, an expert in diplomacy and international relations, says there is a pressing need for the African Union to confront the border instability between Chad and CAR.
“Central African Republic and Chad, the natives who live around the border, they are the same people, and they are made now to fight and there is conflict between two African countries, which should by now have united and made a more powerful entity that supports the livelihood of the Africans," said Chacha. "So that's our tragedy as African people. And our tragedy is going to continue until our leaders wake up and say enough is enough.”
The Wagner Group has been in the Central African Republic since 2018. The Russian group protects the national government and fights rebel groups, in return the group has access to the country's mineral resources.