In Chad, there is concern after the circulation on social networks of a recorded telephone conversation between the leader of a Chadian armed group and a former Central African minister about the Wagner group. Yesterday afternoon, Chadian parliamentarians took the Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs to task, demanding that the Central African ambassador come and explain the links between Bangui and Timan Erdimi.
In the audio document, authenticated by several sources, Timan Erdimi, leader of the UFR, speaks with a former special minister and advisor to the Central African president, Aboulkassim Algoni Tidjani. The Chadian rebel leader can be heard expressing his desire to convince the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which is very active in the Central African Republic alongside the government of that country, to help him “oust the president of the Transitional Military Committee from Chad,” Mahamat Idriss Déby.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Central African presidency, Albert Yaloké Mokpeme, rejected any involvement by Bangui. Abdoulkassim Algoni Tidjani is a former rebel, he said, who was integrated into the government as part of the Khartoum peace accords. He became a special adviser to the president and was relieved of his duties by decree a year ago, on February 19, 2021.
“We are neither closely nor remotely associated” with this conversation, the presidential spokesman said, adding, “N’djamena has nothing to worry about in terms of Central African involvement in these shenanigans.”
Another Central African official mentioned in this conversation between Timan Erdimi and Aboulkassim Algoni Tidjani is the Central African Minister of Livestock Hassan Bouba. He is presented by the two interlocutors as a useful contact for approaching Wagner. Contacted, the minister was surprised. “I am regularly in contact with the Russians as part of my work to convince the members of the rebel coalition, the CPC, to disarm. Maybe that’s why I was quoted,” he says. “I am working for peace in the Central African Republic and not for the destabilization of Chad.”