Central African rebels advance on capital

Seleka rebel coalition members, which launched a major offensive last month, hold on to a position in a village 12kms from Damara, where troops of the regional African force FOMAC are stationed in this file photo.  Rebels in Central Africa were advancing on the capital Bangui after forcing their way through a key checkpoint manned by international forces, a military source said.

AFP/Bangui

Rebels in the Central Africa Republic advanced on the capital Bangui yesterday as they resumed an offensive in the mineral-rich country after the collapse of a two-month-old peace deal with the government.

Troops from the Seleka rebel coalition shot their way through the key Damara checkpoint some 75 kilometres north of the capital, said a source with the Multinational Force of Central Africa (Fomac), a regional stabilisation mission which was manning the roadblock.

“The rebels stormed the checkpoint and passed through.... There were shots but no wounded,” said the source on condition of anonymity. “They are on the road to Bangui. We’re on the highest alert.”

A rebel spokesman confirmed the attack and called for calm.

“We call on everyone, both civilians and the military, to remain calm ahead of our troops’ arrival in Bangui, to avoid unnecessary fighting,” rebel spokesman Eric Massi said from Paris.

The government denied the rebels had passed Damara in a statement on national radio and urged residents of Bangui to keep calm and not “give in to panic”.

Reports of a rebel advance spread quickly in the capital, whose streets emptied as people rushed home or tried to flee the city.

“Everyone is going home. Students have been released from classes. We’re waiting. We’re worried,” a shopkeeper said in a telephone interview.

At the city port, a boat-operator said “hundreds of people” were trying to cross the Ubangi river by boat to seek shelter in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Earlier in the day, the rebels said they had attacked and captured the southeastern town of Bossangoa.

Rebel spokesman Massi said soldiers had already left when the rebels entered Bossangoa and that taking control of it “took only 15 minutes. We’re now in the midst of securing it”.

The rebel attacks came two days after Seleka announced it would resume hostilities after a deadline for the government to meet its demands under a January 11 peace deal expired.

Seleka, an alliance of three rebel movements, first launched an offensive on December 10 in the north of the chronically unstable country.

Facing little resistance from an ill-trained and ill-equipped army, the rebel forces—who accused President Francois Bozize of not abiding by earlier peace deals—seized a string of key towns, defying UN Security Council calls to stop, before halting within striking distance of Bangui.

Under the January peace deal, an opposition member, Nicolas Tiangaye, became head of a national unity government that was to carry out reforms before national elections next year.

But the deal remained fragile, with the rebels threatening to pull out if their demands were not met. They wanted the release of political prisoners and for foreign soldiers to leave the country.

The rebels at the weekend detained five ministers from the new government, including members of the rebel coalition, to back their demands for concessions from the authorities.