Rebels attack town in CAR

2007-01-15 13:44

Bangui - More than 100 rebels attacked a northwestern town in the Central African Republic on Monday, sparking the first fighting with the government troops in more than a month, said a presidential spokesperson.

The attack took place in Paoua, about 400km northwest of the capital, Bangui.

The rebels, led by a renegade army lieutenant, were allied with another insurgent group, which launched a wave of attacks late last year in the country's northeast.

Presidential spokesperson Cyriaque Gonda said: "Fighting still continues as I speak to you." He claimed the army had succeeded in pushing back the attackers, although the skirmish continued.

The northwestern rebels, calling themselves the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy and the Republic, had been active in the area since last year. Their leader, Lieutenant Ndjadder Mounoumbaye, defected from the army in 2004.

The group had said it was fighting because President Francois Bozize had allegedly misruled the country. They were demanding he step down, or agree to share power. Rebels in the northeast, led by Diego Albator Yao, had issued similar complaints.

Impoverished CAR had been wracked by coups and army mutinies since wresting independence from France in 1960. Recent fighting had prompted concern that conflicts in Sudan and Chad could be spilling over its borders.

- AP