The Chad government has announced today that they are withdrawing their military from the international occupation of the Central African Republic. Their contribution to the war is just over 800 fighters.
The Chad troops have been under growing scrutiny after a massacre of civilians last week, during which troops opened fire on a crowd, killing at least 32 people. They insisted they came under fire from someone before shooting up the crowd.
Chad FM Moussa Mahamat condemned what he called a “gratuitous and malicious” campaign against the Chad military since the massacre, saying the military had made “considerable sacrifices” in the war.
Locals in the capital of Bangui expressed relief at the pullout, accusing Chad’s troops of being “assassins and accomplices of the Seleka,” the rebel faction which is one of the two major combatants in the ongoing, and seemingly endless factional dispute in CAR.