Central African Republic: a key witness tells ICC judges the birth of the anti-balaka
View of the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands (Illustrative image).
© Peter Dejong / AP / SIPA
Text by: Stéphanie Maupas Follow
6 mins
Since May 24, the International Criminal Court has been hearing a key witness in the trial of Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yekatom, prosecuted for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 2013 and 2014 in Central African Republic.
Joachim Kokaté recounted the first steps of the anti-balaka, and revealed the content of meetings organized in exile by ousted President François Bozizé.
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The scene takes place in a suite at the Yaoundé Hilton hotel. A few days earlier, on March 24, 2013, the Seleka overthrew the Head of State of the Central African Republic and once again plunged the country into civil war. Since his exile from Cameroon, François Bozizé receives. “
He was in all his senses,
says Joachim Kokaté during his hearing before the judges of the ICC.
He did not accept to lose this power
”.
The meeting, in the presence of some faithful of the deposed Head of State, lasts nearly 45 minutes. General Bozizé hopes for support from his counterparts in ECAC (Community of Central African States). But “
if I remember correctly, Mr. Bozizé tried to call the Chadian authorities, tried to call the Congolese authorities, and when he called, nobody picked up
!
», Said this key witness, addressing the three judges of the ICC by video link from the Central African Republic.
An actor in the response to the Seleka coup, Joachim Kokaté, an officer trained at the Military School for Troop Children from the age of 9, who became a minister several times, appears alongside his lawyer.
His words are weighed so as to avoid accusing himself.
Joachim Kokaté “
fought
” François Bozizé “
for years
”.
But if the former head of state invites him to this meeting in Yaoundé, it is to ally a strong opponent, suggests the witness.
Restricted circle
The following two meetings take place at the premises of the Central African Embassy in Cameroon. In the country, the Seleka spreads terror. “
There were murdered religious, there was the Christian church in Bossangoa which had been destroyed and he [Mr. Bozizé] had received a call saying that his mother's grave had been desecrated
”. The ex-president "
himself was crying, he was shedding tears, he was in all his senses,
" recalls the witness. Over the meetings, the reconquest is built slowly. "
There were meetings open to everyone, and others in a very small circle
."
"
Who?
“Asks prosecutor Kweku Vanderpuye.
Members of his family,
primarily
his sons,
Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona
, Maxime Mokom, Lin Banoukepa, and others.
For the prosecution, the anti-balaka are made up of officers and members of the presidential guard who remained loyal to François Bozizé, allied to self-defense groups transformed into battalions in the summer of 2013.
"
All means
" to regain power
The reconquest project materializes more seriously during a lunch organized in a hotel near the Gare du Nord in Paris, in August 2013. François Bozizé then unveils “
his intention clearly
”, estimates Joachim Kokaté. The former president announces the creation of the Front for the return to constitutional order in the Central African Republic (Froca). With this movement, "
he said he will use all means ... I mean all means
, insists the witness
, to return to power.
"
It is Me Lin Banoukepa who takes the head of Froca, and Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona the military wing.
The witness has known him since a stay in prison in 2002. He had been imprisoned for political reasons, he assures us.
Mr. Ngaïssona “
had problems with the public treasury
”.
Eleven years later, the two men share the same fight for a few months.
"
He told me that he organized the anti-balaka on the ground, that the anti-balaka reported to him for everything
", and "
he said that he had spent a lot on the anti-balaka [... ] the anti-balaka he was financing,
”adds the witness, tilting his head back in his seat, taking a deep breath.
Anti-balaka militiamen in Bangui, in January 2014. Siegfried Modola / REUTERS
It was he too who would have financed the attack of December 5, 2013 on Bangui, overthrowing President Djotodia installed by the Seleka nine months earlier, and leaving room for the transitional authorities.
François Bozizé will still have to wait.
It is Catherine Samba-Panza who occupies the post.
Number 1
The role of Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona, which the prosecutor must prove, becomes clear during a meeting organized in February 2014 in Bangui, by the president of the transition. Several anti-balaka were present, reports the witness, members of the United Nations Mission (Misca) were observing. The president “
wanted to know who? Who is the number 1 anti-balaka? And unanimously, they all said that their manager is Mr. Édouard Ngaïssona. He was the one who took care of them, he was the one who gave them food, he was the one who organized them
”.
Within the transition, the witness is responsible for the disarmament and demobilization of the militias. In court, he claims to have distanced himself from the anti-balaka. He denies having been a military coordinator. A role attributed to Maxime Mokom, he assures, despite the documents presented to him by the prosecutor.
He admits without resistance having been in charge of the external relations of the anti-balaka.
A role that perhaps allowed Mr. Ngaïssona and other anti-balaka officials to have the ear of the authorities, suggests the prosecutor.
He was looking for contacts with the prime minister and the presidency, recognizes Joachim Kokaté.
"
There was a lot of cracklings in the city, there was a climate of insecurity in Bangui and in the interior of the country
", recalls the witness.
Catherine Samba-Panza "
wanted Mr. Ngaïssona to be able to participate in peace
".
► To read also: "
They killed six people of my family
"
: the ICC judges two Central African militiamen
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Central African Republic
anti-balaka
Francois Bozizé
Seleka
Catherine Samba-Panza
International justice
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