Central African Republic: anti-balaka leader Eugène Ngaïkosset arrested
The circumstances of the arrest of Eugène Ngaïkosset, former comrade in arms of François Bozizé, are not yet known (Illustrative image).
© AFP / FLORENT VERGNES
Text by: RFI Follow
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Eugène Ngaïkosset, anti-balaka leader and former member of President François Bozizé's close guard, was arrested.
The information was confirmed to RFI by the Central African Minister of Justice, but the circumstances of this arrest are not yet known.
Eugène Ngaïkosset is accused of numerous crimes in the CAR.
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Eugène Ngaïkosset, 54 this year, is a former comrade in arms of Head of State François Bozizé, who then became captain in the presidential guard.
He owes his nickname of "butcher of Paoua" to his role in the operations carried out to put down the rebellion which had broken out in the north-west after the election of François Bozizé at the head of the country in 2005. For two years, the guard presidential election massacred several hundred civilians in the region.
During this period, Human Rights Watch said the soldiers were shooting at crowds, looting and torching thousands of homes, sometimes razing entire villages.
Eugène Ngaïkosset was at the head of one of the units involved, according to the NGO.
Arrested in Congo after the fall of Bozizé, then extradited, he escaped to Bangui in 2015 before taking up arms.
The UN Security Council accuses him of being one of the main perpetrators of the violence that took place in the capital a few months later.
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He and other anti-balaka fighters joined forces with ex-Seleka rebels to destabilize the transitional government
," according to the United Nations.
He had not been found since.
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Central African Republic