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CAR rebel group takes up arms anew
Libreville (AFP) March 3, 2009 A rebel movement in the Central African Republic has taken up arms but has not yet completely reneged on a peace deal signed with the government in December, its leader said Tuesday. The Movement of Centrafrican Liberators for Justice (MLCJ) "is taking up arms again but doesn't yet denounce the accords" signed on December 7 to bring a truce and start a political dialogue, Captain Abakar Sabone said. His men nevertheless joined another rebel force, the People's Democratic Front (FDPC), in a February 21 attack on the town of Batangafo, 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of Bangui, Sabone told AFP by satellite phone. "There is coordination between the MLCJ and the FDPC, we've signed a joint accord," Sabone said. "For the moment, it's a strategic union, but if, in the next few days, the government doesn't react, we shall be obliged to merge." One of the world's poorest countries, the Central African Republic has been racked for years by insecurity, with rebel groups, bandits and government troops blamed for widespread criminal activity. Sabone accused Bangui's regime of failing to keep to terms of the December 7 accord, including the ceasefire, and the disarmament and demobilisation scheme, with a reintegration plan (DDR), that was launched in February. "Up until now, we haven't received the forms for the DDR," Sabone objected, accusing the government of "bad faith" in delivering them only to two other rebel movements that signed the peace deal. His men had failed to get any food either, Sabone added, urging mediators from Gabon and Libya to pressure the government of the deeply poor, landlocked nation to abide by its agreements. "In the opposite case, we shall void these accords," he warned. Interim defence minister Francis Bozize on February 24 said that rebels from Abdoulaye Miskine's FDPC "caused panic among the people" at Batangafo three days earlier, but made no mention of Sabone's forces. In a statement, he reported "looting and sacking not just of administrative buildings but those of relief NGOs in the region." The rebels were carefully dressed in military uniforms and many soldiers in the regular army, or FACA, fled, along with gendarmerie forces, which enabled the rebels to loot weapons and ammunition, an army source told AFP. No casualty figures were released from the surprise attack on February 21, but the military source said the rebels had roared into the town firing many shots into the air. The FDPC signed a partial peace deal in February 2007, but not the overall peace package signed by Sabone's MLCJ and the two main rebel groups in December in Gabon's capital Libreville. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Gunfire, rockets in Guinea-Bissau after army chief killed
Bissau (AFP) March 2, 2009Rocket explosions and automatic weapons were heard in Guinea-Bissau's capital early Monday, after the chief of staff of the country's armed forces was killed in a bomb attack. |
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