Inhabitants of the popular Kilometre 5 quarter of the 3rd subdivision in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, have been on strike since yesterday, Friday May 5. The strike is in protest of what they describe as “the continuous harassment, kidnappings, torture, and intimidation” of the people living in the quarter and the country as a whole by Russian mercenaries of the Wagner security group.
The current action follows a series of recent abductions, including that of Chekh Samdjida Mahamat Chibeke, Mahamat Amat Hafid Mousa Bachi, and another individual whose name was given only as Haroun.
“The said individuals were kidnapped by the Russian mercenaries from their homes and tortured for several hours before two of them were subsequently released. Mr. Mahamat Amat Hafid Mousa Bachi is still being held by the Russian mercenaries,” a civil society activist who opted for anonymity told HumAngle.
The inhabitants of Kilometre 5 have closed all their businesses and decreed stay-at-home civil disobedience in protest against the actions of the Wagner Security Group, which they say operates in collaboration and support of the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, and a handful of local traitors.
The whole quarter is now under siege from the national army, the Forces Armee Centrafricaine (FACA) who are operating side-by-side the Russian mercenaries.
Local political activists continue to condemn the violence perpetrated against the inhabitants of the country but the national government which owes its continued strangle-hold on power in the country due to support by the Russians, has continued to pay a deaf ear to the cries of the populations.
“The continued abduction and torture of the people are crimes that cannot continue to be tolerated by any government that merits the name nor any civilised society,” declared one political activist who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals.
“The Wagner mercenaries must be held responsible for their actions,” the activist concluded.
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