AFRICA/ CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - Tension as Chad rebels cross into Central African territory

Friday, 30 June 2006

Bangui (Agenzia Fides)- Concern is growing in Central African Republic where Central African army troops and CEMAC (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa) peacekeepers have been involved in fierce clashes with Chad rebel groups which have crossed the frontier.
In the clashes which took place at Gordil, more than 800km north east of the capital Bangui, not far from the border with Chad, some thirty men, rebels as well army and CEMAC troops, were killed.
“Central Africa is like an earthenware pot between pots of iron” said a local source in Bangui. “Civil war left the country with weak state structures, a security system to rebuild and dependent on foreign aid to pay state workers. In this situation it is easy for external forces to infiltrate into the country and use it as a rear base for operations”.
“These events are serious because they show that our country has become a territory of conflict for those who are against the regime of N’Djamena” said a Central African government spokesman. “Our country has no enemies but it will not be told what to do by individuals with neither faith nor law” he concluded reaffirming support for “neighbour regimes democratically elected”.
Since May Central Africa President François Bozizé, allied with Chad president Idriss Deby, has denounced various violations of the sovereignty of his country by Chad rebels hostile to the present regime in N’Djamena. Deby helped Bozizé take power in Central Africa in 2003 after a civil war. The Chad president is threatened with a rebellion which has bases along the border with Sudan and Central Africa Republic.
“In the background of these events are complex manoeuvres of regional and extra Africa powers anxious to exploit the area’s resources, in particular oil in Chad and Sudan” says Fides source. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 30/6/2006 righe 31 parole 371)


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