Since May 24, the International Criminal Court has heard a key witness in the trial of Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yekatom, accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 2013 and 2014 in the Central African Republic. Joachim Kokaté spoke about the first steps in anti-balaka and revealed the content of the meetings organized in exile by the dismissed President François Bozizé.
The scene takes place in a suite at the Yaoundé Hilton hotel. A few days earlier, on March 24, 2013, Seleka overthrew the head of state of the Central African Republic and once again plunged the country into civil war. Since his exile from Cameroon gets François Bozizé. “He was in all his senses,” Joachim Kokaté said during his hearing before the ICC judges. He did not agree to lose this power.
The meeting, in the presence of some faithful from the deposed head of state, lasts almost 45 minutes. General Bozizé hopes for support from his counterparts in the ECAC (Community of Central African States). But “if I remember correctly, Bozizé tried to call the Chadian authorities, tried to call the Congolese authorities, and when he called, no one answered!” To the three ICC judges via video link from the Central African Republic.
An actor in the response to the Seleka coup, Joachim Kokaté, an officer trained at the Military School for Troop Children from the age of 9, who became a minister several times, is shown together with his lawyer. His words are weighed to avoid blaming himself. Joachim Kokaté “fought” with François Bozizé “for several years”. But if the former head of state invites him to this meeting in Yaoundé, it is to ally a strong opponent, the witness suggests.
Limited circle
The following two meetings will take place at the Central African Embassy in Cameroon. In the country, Seleka is spreading terror. “It was religiously murdered, there was the Christian church in Bossangoa that had been destroyed and there was [M. Bozizé] had received a call that his mother’s grave had been desecrated “. The ex-president “cried himself, he cried, he was in all his states”, the witness reminds. During the meetings, the recapture is built slowly. “It was meetings open to everyone and others in a very small circle.”
“Who?” Asks prosecutor Kweku Vanderpuye. The members of his family, mainly his sons, Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona, Maxime Mokom, Lin Banoukepa and others. For the indictment, the anti-balaka consists of officers and members of the presidential guard who remained loyal to François Bozizé, allied with self-defense groups transformed into battalions in the summer of 2013.
“Everything means” to regain power
The recycling project is realized more seriously during a lunch held at a hotel near the Gare du Nord in Paris, in August 2013. François Bozizé then reveals “his intention clearly”, Joachim Kokaté estimates. The former president announces the creation of the front for return to constitutional order in the Central African Republic (Froca). With this movement “he said he will use all means … I mean all means, the witness insists, to return to power.”
It’s me Lin Banoukepa who takes the head of Froca and Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona the military wing. The witness has known him since he was imprisoned in 2002. He had been imprisoned for political reasons, he assures us. Mr Ngaïssona “had problems with the Treasury”. Eleven years later, the two men share the same struggle for a few months. “He told me he organized anti-balaka on the ground, that anti-balaka reported to him for everything,” and “he said he had spent a lot on anti-balaka. […] the anti-balaka he financed, ”the witness adds, leaning his head back in his seat and taking a deep breath.
He was also the one who allegedly financed the attack on 5 December 2013 in Bangui and overthrew President Djotodia, who had been installed by Seleka nine months earlier and left room for the transitional authorities. François Bozizé still has to wait. Catherine Samba-Panza is in charge.
Number one
The role of Patrice-Édouards Ngaïssona, which the prosecutor must prove, becomes clear during a meeting organized in February 2014 in Bangui, by the transitional president. Several anti-balaka were present, the witness reports, members of the UN mission (Misca) observed. The president “wanted to know who? Who is anti-balaka number 1? And they all unanimously said that their boss is Édouard Ngaïssona. He was the one who took care of them, he was the one who gave them food, he was the one who organized them ”.
During the transition, the witness is responsible for the disarmament and demobilization of the militias. In court, he claims that he has distanced himself from anti-balaka. He denies being a military coordinator. A role attributed to Maxime Mokom, he assures, despite the documents that the prosecutor presented to him.
He admits without resistance that he was responsible for the external relations of anti-balaka. A role that may have made it possible for Mr Ngaïssona and other anti-Balaka officials to consult the authorities, the prosecutor suggests. He was looking for contacts with the Prime Minister and the Presidency, admits Joachim Kokaté. “It was very crackling in the city, there was a climate of insecurity in Bangui and in the interior of the country,” the witness recalled. Catherine Samba-Panza “wanted Mr Ngaïssona to be able to participate in peace”.
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