Cannabis Ruderalis

Aaron Wilibona
Wilibona in January 2014 in Cantonnier, pointing his gun at camera
Member of the National Assembly
In office
2005–2011
Succeeded byJules Bernard Ouandé[1]
Constituency8th arrondissement, Bangui
Director of cabinet of Ministry of Public Health
In office
2011–2013
Anti-balaka commander
In office
2014 or earlier – 2015 or later
Personal details
BornBangui
NationalityCentral African Republic

Aaron Wilibona (or Ouilibona) alias "Coxis" – is a former Central African representative, military commander of Anti-balaka, suspected of killing French journalist Camille Lepage.

Life[edit]

He is a cousin of former president François Bozizé[2] and a younger brother of Maxime Mokom.[3]

He used to be a chieff of staff of two ministers under the regime of Patassé and Bozizé.[4] In the 2005 Central African general election he was elected to the National Assembly from the 8th arrondissement in Bangui, having received 7,508 or 40.44% of all votes. He was elected as a member of Kwa Na Kwa party.[5] In 2009 he was elected President of the Kwa Na Kwa parliamentary group.[6] In September 2010 Wilibona was reportedly regularly traversing Bangui with a submachine gun looking for information and speaking with mercenaries.[7] In 2011 he was a director of cabinet of the Ministry of Public Health.[8]

Civil war[edit]

Following the outbreak of the Central African Republic Civil War he joined the Anti-balaka militias. In January 2014 he reportedly took over the Cantonnier/Béloko border crossing together with Rochael Mokom alias ‘Colonel Rocco’. On 28 April he was reportedly in charge of Anti-balaka militias between Cantonnier and Bouar.[9] He was accused of murder of French journalist Camille Lepage in May 2014 for which he was arrested by Central African authorities.[10] On 7 July 2015 he escaped the Ngaragba prison in Bangui after which he fled to Garoua-Boulaï in Cameroon.[11] His personal lawyer, Raymond Ndakala, was accused of helping him in escape.[10] On 5 September 2015 he reportedly arrived in Berbérati accompanied by eight Anti-balaka fighters.[11]

Aftermath[edit]

On 12 September 2020 he was arrested by the Cameroonian air and border police as he was returning from a trip to Bangui and placed in pre-trial detention in Kondengui. He is accused of dishonestly obtaining 481,000,000 CFA francs stored in various bank accounts.[4]

References[edit]

Leave a Reply