APRD - Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy
The APRD (Army for the Restitution of Democracy) is one of the four major rebel groups in the CAR. The rebel group APRD in the northwest provinces is led by Jean-Jacques Demafouth. The rebel groups are not all equal in force or political influence, with the APRD, the UFDR, and probably the FDPC being the only groups with known soldiers in the field in the NW and NE provinces. The largest group the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process aimed to demobilize is the APRD. Holding sway over two of the most populous prefectures of the CAR - the Ouham and Ouham Pende make up 20 percent of the CAR's population - many observers mistakenly viewed the APRD's demobilization as the one least fraught with difficulties.
Former President of the Central African Republic (CAR) Ange-Felix Patasse is widely seen as the inspiration for, if not actually connected with, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), the major rebel group in the northwest of the country. A former Minister of Defense (1999-2001) during Patasse's regime, Demafouth has been accused of various nefarious deeds including the plotting of a coup and murder. While in exile in Paris in 2006, he formed a political party - New Alliance for Progress (NAP) - but contiguously was involved in support of the rebel Army for the Restitution of Democracy (APRD). He officially became President of the APRD in 2008, concluding a ceasefire and a peace agreement with the CAR government. He took part in the December 2008 political dialogue and is currently fully involved in the country's disarmament program.
Demafouth has always displayed a desire to see genuine political change in the CAR. He enjoys popularity within the CAR security forces because of his bold restructuring programs while Defense Minister. (Enough popularity, according to rumor, for Bozize to be wary of the FACA and to rely on the GP.) Though renowned in the north of the country, especially in the APRD areas, Demafouth is not well-known or accepted in other prefectures. He is widely regarded as blindly power hungry.
The north of the CAR is virtually ungoverned by Bangui and the large pastoral expanses are often the source of tension between the sedentary Central African farmers and pastoralist coming from the north. The APRD and other local militias are in constant conflict with Fulani / Peuhl / Mbororo herders and cattle raisers from Chad. Apparently some of the larger herds are owned by members of the Chadian security apparatus and it is not uncommon that soldiers from the Chadian Army are sent to settle disagreements across the border.
The Army for the Restitution of Democracy (APRD), while adhering to the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program (DDR) process, has reestablished check points in its areas of operation and turned away a UN convoy headed by Chairman of the PBC in protest against the slow roll out of the DDR program.
In early 2009 a Fulani/APRD dispute roiled the Kaga Bandoro region. Conflicts between the nomadic, cattle herding Fulani (also referred to as the Peuhl, or the Bororro Fulani) and settled, agricultural farmer populations have been a source of conflict in Central and West Africa for decades. There were reports of increased fighting north and east of Bangui. Allegedly a group of Fulani stole, or did not pay an agreed price for, cattle from Muslim merchants who in turn stole cattle back. This set off a series of violent reprisals which, until now, the Central African Government (CARG) has ignored as a local problem.
The Fulani are an oft oppressed minority in the CAR. A migratory people by nature, they are considered wealthy due to their cattle holdings. Thus many, particularly children, have been kidnapped by rebels and bandits and held for ransom. In some places, the FACA and the rebels are both reported to demand a `tax' in cattle from the Fulani. As a result, over 80,000 Fulani have fled the CAR and sought refuge in Cameroon and Chad.
Kaga Bandoro was in the news in early 2009 because of new conflict between Fulani herders, their CAR/Chadian `servants/slaves' and the APRD, one of the largest rebel movements in the CAR. According to the most reasonable sources - after the servants objected to their working conditions/pay, the Fulani killed several in punishment. The survivors then appealed to the APRD, the only effective law and order in the region, for support. The APRD, in turn, killed some of the Fulani, who, in their turn, appealed for help from Chadian Arabs. Upon the arrival of the Chadians, three villages were burned as they attempted to search for the APRD. All of these details must be taken with great care, and most are probably wrong.
The town of Kaga Bandoro was devastated economically by the passage of then rebel leader Francois Bozize's army in 2003, Kaga Bandoro suffers from the presence of two armed groups who effectively end the control of the CARG some five kilometers from the city center. The Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD), the traditional rebel group of the region and signatory to the DDR process lives in an uneasy coexistence with a heavily armed group of Chadian bandits led by a man named Baba Lade. With a tiny gendarmerie presence, the town is at the mercy of those groups, though MICOPAX, a regional peacekeeping body is able to assure a modicum of stability if not order. The local Prefect, akin to a governor, is so reduced in authority that he is often limited to being a spectator.
The APRD, and groups like it, cannot disarm until general instability ceases. In many parts of the north, they are, ironically, the only elements of order. If they were to disarm, local and trans-border groups like Baba Lade's, who fund themselves through road banditry and illegal ``taxation'' of livestock, will run rampant. Only a capable and motivated Central African Army (FACA), gendarme, and police force can provide a better alternative than the rebels. The people of the north have suffered the civil war of 2003 that devastated all economic life in northern CAR and then a dangerous rebellion that has touched most parts of the country above the 6th parallel. With some CARG support, many towns have produced stout self defense militias to counter the threat posed by the rebels and bandits. These groups are appear to be effective, but they cannot replace a real police/military force, backed up by a functional system of justice.
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