Central African govt warns of attacks in capital

Oct 14, 2006 (BANGUI) — Central African Republic’s government on Saturday warned residents of the capital Bangui to be on alert against armed attackers bent on spreading insecurity from other parts of the volatile country.

The landlocked former French colony, one of the poorest nations on earth, has been hobbled by instability in its northern border region with Chad, a lawless area where raiders regularly loot homes and terrorise civilians.

“For some time very alarming rumours have been doing the rounds in Bangui of a massive infiltration of ill-intentioned people,” Interior Minister Colonel Michel Salle said in a broadcast on state radio.

“According to these rumours, the aim of this presence is to obey commanders who have given them the order to cause insecurity for the government by carrying out acts of terror and crime,” he said, urging residents to “double their vigilance”.

Insecurity in Central African Republic’s north has forced thousands of people to flee over the border since early last year into Chad, itself beset by instability, food shortages and refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region.

Government officials admit little is known of the political motives of the various armed groups in the region — many of them apparently simply highway robbers — or the extent of their collaboration.

Some analysts say the groups may be backed by mercenaries from Chad seeking to settle old scores with Central Africa’s President Francois Bozize, who seized power in March 2003 with the help of Chadian recruits whom he subsequently expelled.

(Reuters)