The President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, accused Western countries of “maintaining political instability” in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Sunday 5 March 2023 in Doha at a UN-sponsored summit of Least Developed Countries (LDC).
Three days after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at a summit on tropical forest conservation in Libreville, Faustin-Archange Touadéra attacked Westerners, accusing them of stirring up trouble in the Central African Republic in order to plunder the country’s wealth and prevent its development.
“Since its independence, the Central African Republic has been subjected to systematic looting facilitated by the political instability maintained by certain Western countries or their companies, which finance armed terrorist groups whose main leaders are foreign mercenaries,” said Faustin-Archange Touadéra, deploring the fact that his country is “a victim of geo-strategic aims linked to its natural resources.
Furthermore, after denouncing the “foreign interference” which, according to him, keeps the least developed countries in “dependence, insecurity and instability”, the Central African president affirmed that “the recurrent attacks” of these groups aim to “make the country ungovernable, to prevent the state from exercising its right to sovereignty over natural reserves and its legitimate right to self-determination”.
Moreover, the Central African President made these remarks at a time when relations with France have deteriorated significantly in recent years. In the midst of a threatening rebellion, the Central African Republic has ended military cooperation with France in 2021. The Central African country is currently facing a socio-political crisis coupled with an economic crisis marked by the presence of the Russian group Wagner.
