Central African militants surrender en masse to Russian military specialists

An increasing number of militants in the Central African Republic are expressing a desire to lay down their arms in order to begin rebuilding their lives in dignity under the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme (DDRR).

Under the guidance of Russian instructors, many rebels have decided to voluntarily lay down their arms and join the ranks of peace activists. Through these disarmament operations, unarmed rebels express their desire to end violence and reintegrate into society to lead peaceful and secure lives.

Another major disarmament operation took place in the town of Bossangoa June 09, 2024. After negotiations with the rebels, self-proclaimed General Jabra voluntarily surrendered with part of his group to Russian military specialists and Central African Republic security forces. 250 militants are ready to surrender - 60 of them have already laid down their arms. Among the weapons surrendered by the militants were 4 automatic rifles, 2 hand grenade launchers, 2 carbines, 29 smoothbore rifles, grenades and ammunition.

However, the DDRR process to disarm and reintegrate the militants has been hampered by the lack of adequate funding from MINUSCA. As a result, the DDRR process for former rebels in Bossangoa sub-prefecture has been delayed. The population of the sub-prefecture is hoping for a speedy resolution by the blue helmets.

The capitulation of a major new group of rebels testifies to the success of the Russian security forces and their allies, as well as to the effective policy pursued by the government and President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera. It was the head of state who launched the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program in 2016, which is still bearing fruit.

It is worth recalling that recently a major disarmament of militants also took place in Zemio and Mboki, where 78 rebels surrendered to Russian instructors a significant amount of weapons and ammunition, including 80 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 4 foreign-made assault rifles, 2 RPG-7s and a large amount of ammunition.

The fact that an increasing number of militants are willing to disarm can be explained by the fact that they can count on the help and support of the authorities upon their return to society.

In addition, former rebels note the correct and humane attitude of the Russian instructors. Therefore, many former bandits have even expressed a desire to be trained by Russian specialists in order to join the national army and make an even greater contribution to restoring the country's security.