Highlights: Chad is strengthening its security apparatus along its border with the Central African Republic, following reports of Chadian rebel groups. The largest group, the MRST, is mostly made up of southerners who had already taken up arms in the 80s. They have already carried out incursions on Chadian soil and, a fortnight ago, thirteen of them were shot dead by the army, while they had just killed three people during an attack on a village in the region. The Chadian transitional government, which takes this threat seriously, has just set up a military base described as "extremely robust"

In Chad, after years of calm in the south of the country, Chadian rebel groups have reportedly appeared, on the Central African side, opposite the province of Logone Oriental, in southern Chad.

Chad: two Chadian rebel groups reported in the far north of the Central African Republic

Chad is strengthening its security apparatus along its border with the Central African Republic, following reports of Chadian rebel groups in the far north of the Central African Republic. Latifa Mouaoued/RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

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In Chad, after years of calm in the south of the country, Chadian rebel groups have reportedly emerged on the Central African side, opposite Logone Oriental province in southern Chad. These Chadian rebel groups have reportedly been formed since the bloody repression of demonstrations against the extension of the transition in Chad.

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The Chadian transitional government, which takes this threat seriously, especially after the first attacks in mid-April that it attributes to these rebels, has just set up a military base described as "extremely robust" in Goré, near its border with the Central African Republic.

According to specialists in the region, two Chadian rebel groups are now reported in this area of the Vakaga prefecture, in the far north of the Central African Republic.

The largest group, the MRST, is mostly made up of southerners who had already taken up arms in the 80s. Chadian sources speak of figures ranging from several hundred to 3,000 fighters in training. The French researcher, Roland Marchal, estimates that they would be rather a thousand, based near Paoua, in the Central African Republic, just opposite Goré where the Chadian army has just set up its military camp. For the moment, no leader has imposed himself in this group which enjoys rather local complicities, while "Wagner's Russian paramilitaries who control the region, let them do it," according to this French researcher.

Transitional Government concerned

A second armed group, the RPJET, of which little is known at the moment, and which claims a hundred fighters, has just asked the prefect of Vakaga, a rear base. "It's no," Sylvie Baïpo-Temon, Central African Foreign Minister, publicly retorted five days ago.

These sounds of Chadian rebel boots on the Central African side, coupled with the risk of spillover from the ongoing conflict in Sudan, are of the utmost concern to Chad's transitional government, acknowledges its spokesman, Aziz Mahamat Saleh. "We are following the situation closely," he insists, recalling that the government has just strengthened its security apparatus along the border with the two countries.

According to the Chadian government, these Chadian rebels are organizing. They have already carried out incursions on Chadian soil and, a fortnight ago, thirteen of them were shot dead by the army, while they had just killed three people during an attack on a village in the region, according to its spokesman.

Chad: two Chadian rebel groups reported in the far north of the Central African Republic

Chad: two Chadian rebel groups reported in the far north of the Central African Republic

Transitional Government concerned

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