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CAR bandits kill town mayor
14/03/2008 17:54 - (SA)
Bangui - Bandits in the Central African Republic have killed three captives, including a town mayor, abducted for ransom at the end of February, officials said on Friday.
The "zaraguinas" (highwaymen) killed the hostages and dumped the bodies - which were later discovered by a group of nomads - the local officials said.
The mayor of Koui, a town in northwest Central African Republic (CAR), was abducted along with four other people on February 26. The kidnappers had demanded a combined ransom of nearly seven million CAR francs.
The family of two hostages obtained their release by paying nearly half the total ransom.
"I am in shock, because I contacted all the capable authorities but there was no quick reaction. It was with great consternation that I learned news the three hostages had been executed," regional legislator Barthelemy Boua told AFP.
The city of Koui on the Cameroonian border is situated in the region of Bocaranga, 450 kilometres northwest of Bangui.
In another kidnapping in February, two doctors and their three associates were held captive for eight days by bandits who demanded a large ransom.
Doctors in CAR put pressure on the government, which resulted in the hostages being set free - though the conditions of their release are not known.
Since 2005, the northwestern region of CAR has been increasingly insecure as the "zaraguinas" and rebels from both the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD) and regular CentrAfrican forces have brought about large scale displacement of civilians.
On Thursday, international organisation Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) said it would partially suspend its humanitarian activities in the country after shots fired against ambulances killed one woman.
Elsa Serfass, a French MSF volunteer was shot dead in June 2007 by rebels in northeastern CAR.
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