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Government Troops Recapture Two Towns

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS
February 18, 2003
Posted to the web February 18, 2003
Bangui
Central African Republic (CAR) government forces, backed by the Mouvement de
liberation du Congo (MLC) from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), have recaptured the towns of Bozoum and Sibut, Radio France
Internationale reported on Sunday.
Acknowledging that they no longer controlled the towns, the rebels loyal to the
former army chief of staff, Francois Bozize, said they had been defeated by
virtue of the involvement of the MLC fighters. "We affirm that it is [Jean-
Pierre] Bemba's [MLC] fighters, who have been fighting us on the ground since
13 February, together with 400 to 500 [Rwandan Hutu extremist] Interahamwe
militiamen and former Rwandan soldiers," Parfait Mbaye, a rebel spokesman,
said.
Bozoum (384 km northwest of the CAR capital, Bangui) and Sibut (185 km
northeast of Bangui) are strategic towns. The capture of Bozoum opens the way
to Bossangoa (305 km northwest of Bangui), Bozize's birthplace and site of the
rebels' headquarters. It is also 100 km from Bouar, which straddles the main
road linking the capital, Bangui, to Cameroon, and which also has the country's
second-largest military garrison. That road and the traffic using it had been
under constant rebel threat. Sibut is in the heart of the country's
agricultural region, and its isolation from Bangui has led to steep increases
in the prices of consumer goods.
After their defeat in Bangui in November 2002 after an unsuccessful attempt to
overthrow President Ange-Felix Patasse's government, the rebels retreated to
positions in the northwest and the centre of the country.
Analysts perceive the government's recent victories as the result of its effort
to drive the rebels out of the country before the scheduled national dialogue
is held in March.
During a news conference broadcast on 14 February by the UN-sponsored Radio
Ndeke Luka, the minister of state for communications, Gabriel Jean Edouard
Koyambounou, said national territorial integrity must be recovered before the
dialogue could take place. "We have to go to the dialogue with all our
provinces under our control," he stressed.
These new developments have taken place as MLC fighters began their pull-out on
15 February. So far, neither the CAR military nor administrative authorities
have confirmed the recapture of the two towns.

   

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