A month after his arrest and pre-trial detention in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR), Frenchman Juan Rémy Quignolot has five charges against him.
Central African justice, in the person of Eric Didier Tambo, the attorney general at the Court of Appeal, decided to continue Juan Rémy Guignolot. French national, arrested in Bangui, is accused of espionage, illegal possession of weapons of war, criminal association, conspiracy and attack on the internal security of the State.
Images of Quignolot's arrest went around the world. According to his documents, the photos of which had leaked, the French would have been present in the Central African Republic in 2013. A few days before the capture of Bangui by the Seleka. He would have helped the former president and current leader of the insurgency, François Bozizé, to flee to Cameroon.
When he was arrested on May 10, Quignolot had already been present in the CAR for months. He was indeed in possession of an arsenal of weapons of war. He identified himself as a journalist, although his documents indicated several occupations, including "security officer". During the investigation, the Bangui police discovered that the hard drive of his computer and a tablet in his possession contained incriminating documents. In this case, photos of the training of rebels of the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) of François Bozizé. Also, his devices contained a bewildering number of confidential documents from the Central African presidency. And finally, photos and information on the movements of the President of the CAR Faustin-Archange Touadera (FAT).
A Frenchman named Juan Rémy Quignolot was arrested yesterday in the Central African Republic (CAR). It would be a French intelligence agent, who had collaborated with François Bozizé in 2013.#Afrique #Policy #News
https://t.co/m18Ie5uvxw- The Journal of Africa (@LeJDAfrique) May 11, 2021
In the Central African Republic, the facts are the facts
It is therefore not a coincidence or a combination of circumstances that Juan Rémy Quignolot sees his file treated by justice. All the facts point to his involvement in the crimes he was accused of yesterday, June 9. However, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, denounces a " anti-French campaign remotely controlled by Russia ”.
Macron then cut financial aid to the CAR, froze military cooperation and attacked President Touadéra. Indeed, the French president described Faustin-Archange Touadéra as a "hostage of the paramilitaries Wagner and his Russian advisers". Nevertheless, it is true that since the Central African civilian populations had driven the French soldiers from Bangui in 2016, FAT surrounded itself with Russian advisers. However, the facts clearly show that the CAR state has since gained sovereignty.
The Central African Armed Forces (FACA), along with Russian paramilitaries, have taken over a large part of the territory occupied by the militias. Some regions had been out of control since 2014. Bangui also resolved the embargo it faced. The two major militias that form the CPC were defeated. The former president and close ally of France, François Bozizé, had fled Bangui and revealed that he was the head of the CPC. Humanitarian aid could finally arrive in CAR, and FAT was starting to to assert itself in international bodies as sovereign of an independent nation.
Who will the French aggressiveness towards the CAR fall on?
All these events, which took place in three months, will against French geostrategic interests, certainly. But from there to defend a spy, to default on the commitments of the French state and to offend a president? Emmanuel Macron was clearly clumsy in his relations with the CAR.
His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had tried to poison relations between the Central African Republic and Chad. On the sidelines of the incident between the FACA and the Chadian army. Caused, let us remember, by the deliberate action of a militia. The 3Rs, historically under the orders of Bozizé, and currently commanded by someone close to Chadian power and France. It would be Baba Ladde, a former Chadian opponent who had made peace with the late Idriss Déby Itno a few weeks before the latter's assassination.
The processing of the French spy's file could therefore highlight possible French involvement in the Central African political crisis. Worse yet, such an aggressive interference in state affairs could bring both countries to international justice. And cause harm to Emmanuel Macron who is seeking to be re-elected for a second term in France.
@ christdjoko1 are the Gauls already starting to "tell the time"? they will also shun CAR's foreign exchange reserves and stop cutting back on its natural resources?
— Uncle Tchana Pierre|| CMR237 (@ramzy08238514) June 8, 2021