"In Central African Republic, rebels halt their advance on capital, say they are ready to talk" by Scott Sayare | New York Time, January 03, 2013
NEW YORK — Rebel forces halted their advance on Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on Wednesday and said they were prepared to enter into peace talks with the government.
The announcement, made by rebel spokesmen, heralded the possibility of a peaceful resolution to a conflict that has driven thousands of civilians from their homes and into the Central African forest....
President Francois Bozize has in recent days declared his willingness to negotiate, and peace talks are already being planned in nearby Gabon....
As a precondition to talks, the rebels have demanded that government forces stop arresting members of the Gula tribe, from which many rebels hail, said Colonel Djouma Narkoyo, a rebel spokesman. In negotiations, the rebels would insist upon the departure of Bozize, another spokesman said.
The rebels had been refusing peace talks just a few days ago. Their decision to change course may be linked to the arrival in the Central African Republic of troops from a coalition of neighboring countries, sent as reinforcements for Central African government forces....
I'm not sure of the CIA or AmeriKa's role here; however, I have no doubt there is one whether mouthpiece is hiding involvement; doing a both sides kind of thing and removing a guy and replacing him with another tool (think Yemen); denied help to the government in a coup by neglect; or no role at all and unhappy because they didn't see it coming.
The fact that the globalists marshaled their African troop organization so quickly is a bit of a tell.
Should the rebels press on with their offensive, they risk setting off a regional conflict, according to the commander of the multinational African force in the country.
Looking back now that might be a bit of hyperbole.
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"Central African leader tightens grip" by Krista Larson | Associated Press, January 04, 2013
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Facing an insurgency by a new rebel coalition, the president of Central African Republic consolidated military power under his control Thursday after dismissing his son as acting defense minister along with his army chief of staff.
The use of the word insurgency is key; it means the mouthpiece media fronting for the US government doesn't like them. Syrian insurgents are rebels.
President Francois Bozize said in a decree read on state radio late Wednesday that he was taking over the position held by his son, Jean Francis Bozize, as neighboring countries sent troops to help.
Hundreds of soldiers from Chad, Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Cameroon have been arriving this week in this poor, landlocked country where rebels have seized 10 towns in a month’s time....
The word seize is another. Maybe they did, but Palestinians seize things even when they win elections so I view the term in a different way these days.
And I'm always amazed that these countries that have tremendous wealth inequality and poverty always have tons of troops to send.
Residents in the capital of Bangui said Bozize’s decision to fire his son was not surprising given the recent military losses. Some said Bozize may be making his moves too late.
‘‘It’s coming too late because the security of our country is already in the hands of rebels,’’ said Jean Nestor Kongbu as he watched fishermen cast their nets in the Obangui River that separates Central African Republic from Congo. “They say they won’t advance, but the government could provoke the rebels or the rebels could provoke the government. They need to negotiate for the Central African people.’’
The sudden military reorganization also suggests that Bozize’s regime may be weakening, said Thierry Vircoulon, of the International Crisis Group.
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"Central African Republic rebels seize another town before talks" by Hippolyte Marboua | Associated Press, January 06, 2013
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Rebels in Central African Republic seized control of another town on Saturday, just days before they are to begin negotiations with the government in nearby Gabon.
It's called strengthening your negotiating position.
Alindao town was taken by rebels of the Seleka alliance, who now control 11 cities and towns, according to residents of a nearby community.
‘‘In the early morning hours the attackers burst into Alindao without meeting any resistance from the Central African armed forces,’’ said Jean Balipio, speaking by telephone from the neighboring town of Bangassou.
Alindao is not on the path to Bangui, the capital of 700,000, which is heavily fortified by Chadian troops and other forces sent from neighboring countries.
Alindao is located about 75 miles from Bambari, the third-largest city, which is already under rebel control.
The insurgents have taken 11 towns and cities within a month. They had previously said they would halt their advances pending talks with President Francois Bozize’s government, which are set to begin in Gabon on Tuesday.
The new move by rebels on Saturday casts doubt on the possible success of the talks.
But when Israel does a provocative poke-in-the-eye it's never described as casting doubt.
Already the rebels said they are seeking Bozize’s departure but the president said he does not intend to leave office before his term ends in 2016.
Seleka, which means alliance in the local Sango language, is made up of four groups that have previously fought one another.
Bozize has offered to form a government of national unity, but the rebels have questioned his sincerity and demanded that he relinquish power.
The rebels also want the Bozize government to respect previous peace accords providing for the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former rebels into society.
On Friday, the United Nations Security Council urged the rebels to withdraw from the towns they hold and take part in the negotiations in Libreville, Gabon, ‘‘without preconditions and in good faith.’’
Oooo-kay. I'm waiting for the order for Israel to withdraw to the lines of 1967.
Pakistan’s UN ambassador, Masood Khan, the current council president who read the press statement, was asked whether the talks would definitely take place given uncertainty about participation of all the rebels in the alliance and other groups....
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"Pact for Central African Republic" January 12, 2013
LIBREVILLE, Gabon — Central African Republic President Francois Bozize and the rebels who sought to overthrow him have reached a deal that will allow him to stay in office until his term ends in 2016, officials said Friday.
The announcement came after several days of peace talks in Gabon, organized after an alliance of rebels groups swept through the north of the country and seized control of a dozen towns.
On Friday, Bozize publicly shook hands with the rebel representatives — whom he had denounced as terrorists just two days before — and other political opponents to seal the deal that spares his ouster. The rebel offensive stopped short of the capital of Bangui but posed the gravest threat to Bozize during his nearly 10 years in power.
‘‘The president, backed into a corner, was forced to make a number of concessions and to make true of his promise to encourage a government of national unity,’’ said Margaret Vogt, UN special envoy to Central African Republic.
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Didn't last long:
"Rebels overthrow president of Central African Republic; Peace agreement had unraveled in recent days" by Hippolyte Marboua | Associated Press, March 25, 2013
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Rebels overthrew Central African Republic’s president of a decade on Sunday, seizing the presidential palace and declaring that the desperately poor country has ‘‘opened a new page in its history.’’
The president fled the capital, while extra French troops moved to secure the airport, officials said.
The rebels’ invasion of the capital came just two months after they had signed a peace agreement that would have let President Francois Bozize serve until 2016.
That deal unraveled in recent days, prompting the insurgents’ advance into Bangui and Bozize’s departure to a still unpublicized location.
Witnesses and an adviser to Bozize said rebel trucks were traveling throughout the town on Sunday hours after the palace was seized. Former colonial power France confirmed the developments, issuing a statement that said President Francois Hollande of France ‘‘has taken note of the departure of President Francois Bozize.’’
‘‘Central African Republic has just opened a new page in its history,’’ said a communique signed by Justin Kombo Moustapha, secretary general of the alliance of rebel groups known as Seleka.
‘‘The political committee of the Seleka coalition, made up of Central Africans of all kinds, calls on the population to remain calm and to prepare to welcome the revolutionary forces of Seleka,’’ it said.
Central African Republic, a nation of 4.5 million, has long been wracked by rebellions and power grabs. Bozize took charge in 2003 following a rebellion, and his tenure has been marked by conflict with myriad armed groups....
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"Central African Republic president flees to Cameroon" by Lydia Polgreen | New York Times, March 26, 2013
JOHANNESBURG — A day after being ousted by rebel forces, President Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic surfaced in Cameroon on Monday, according to a statement read on state radio by a senior Cameroon official.
He will remain there until he finds a more permanent refuge, said the official, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.
The rebel coalition, known as Seleka, solidified its grip on the capital, Bangui. The group pledged to stick to the terms of an earlier transition plan hammered out in neighboring Gabon that was to lay the groundwork for new elections in two or three years, Reuters reported.
Under that agreement, the rebels, the civilian opposition, and Bozize’s allies were to share power, but the Seleka rebellion claimed that Bozize, who himself came to power in a military coup in 2003, was not respecting its terms. They withdrew from the power-sharing deal and returned to the battlefield.
South Africa, meanwhile, disclosed that 13 of its soldiers had been killed while fighting the rebels near Bangui. President Jacob Zuma said 200 soldiers battled more than 1,000 rebels.
He sent them into that?
South Africa had sent 200 of a planned deployment of 400 troops to the Central African Republic as part of an agreement with Bozize’s government to bolster and train the country’s ragtag army.
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"Central African Republic hospitals looted after coup; Rebel leader says he will stay in power for 3 years" by Jose Richard Pouambi and Rukmini Callimachi | Associated Press, March 27, 2013
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Aid groups and the international community on Tuesday condemned widespread looting in Central African Republic’s capital, saying that even hospitals had been robbed in the aftermath of a weekend coup that ousted the president of a decade.
Efforts to restore order to Bangui, a city of 700,000, came as a rebel leader declared himself the new president and announced he would stay in power for three years.
Continuing violence in Central African Republic was preventing critically wounded patients from getting the help they needed, said the French medical aid group, Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders....
More than 1,000 armed rebels from the alliance known as Seleka attacked the capital on Saturday, forcing longtime President Francois Bozize into exile in neighboring Cameroon. The fierce fighting left at least 13 South African soldiers dead and an untold number of civilian casualties.
It was the latest political turmoil to destabilize Central African Republic, a country where leaders since independence from France in 1960 have come to power or been ousted in a series of coups and rebellions.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell criticized the ‘‘illegitimate seizure of power.’’
‘‘We strongly condemn these actions,’’ Ventrell told reporters. ‘‘The Seleka leadership must account for its trail of destruction.’’
Well, that clears that up.
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The leader of the rebel coalition justified the coup by saying that Bozize had veered into dictatorship during his 10 years in power....
Meanwhile, French forces protecting Bangui’s main airport opened fire on three cars that were speeding toward a security checkpoint, said the French Defense Ministry.
The cars, carrying Indian and Chadian citizens, continued despite warning shots. Two Indian citizens were killed, and the wounded Indian and Chadian passengers were taken for medical care, the defense ministry said in the statement Monday.
Translation: FRANCE is OCCUPYING the IMPORTANT AREAS like the AIRPORT because THESE are the KINDS of THINGS that HAPPEN in OCCUPATIONS -- as any "host" country and its people know.
These poor Indian and Chinese and the taxi drivers taking them to the airport probably didn't even know French troops had "secured" the base.
France is investigating the shooting, the statement said....
I'll be looking for the report in my Globe.
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"Hard questions for South Africa over CAR battle" by Christopher Torchia | Associated Press, March 28, 2013
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s government faced tough questions Wednesday about its military mission in the Central African Republic after 13 of its soldiers were killed by rebels there last week.
Related: South Africa sends troops to neighbor
South Africa’s political opposition called for a parliamentary inquiry into what the troops were doing in Central African Republic amid allegations that their tasks included the protection of Francois Bozize, the president who fled to Cameroon after his ouster.
South African authorities have denied deploying a presidential bodyguard, saying the mission was to train the national army and that more forces went to protect South African “assets” as security deteriorated. The force of about 200 soldiers fought a much larger group of well-armed rebels in the capital, Bangui, before a truce was reached.
The South African contingent remained in the Central African Republic on Wednesday, said Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga.
“They are still safe,” Mabanga said. “The situation is still calm.”
Yet the mandate of the battered South African force, based on a deal with an ousted government, was precarious at best. Allegations that Bozize was corrupt and a power-monger, cited by rebels as the reason for their uprising, have undercut South Africa’s assertions that it was contributing to peace and stability.
The uproar comes as South Africa hosts the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China at a summit in Durban, an event that allows it to showcase its ambitions.
That may or may not be the only time I saw reference to that meeting in my Globe.
South Africa has a history of contributing to peacekeeping missions. According to Mabanga, it currently has troops in Congo under United Nations auspices, in Sudan’s Darfur region under a mandate approved by the UN and African Union, and in a maritime security operation in Mozambique under a bilateral deal.
Jeff Dubazana, spokesman for the South African National Defense Union, said troops involved in the battle had told his organization that they were attacked not just by advancing rebels, but also rebellious forces under Bozize’s command.
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"Drive behind leader’s rise to top in Central African Republic" by Krista Larson | Associated Press, March 29, 2013
DAKAR, Senegal — Michel Djotodia showed up for peace talks a few months ago in camouflage and a turban as the face of Central African Republic’s rebel movement. Now he has traded the fatigues for a suit as the nation’s new self-declared leader after ousting the president of a decade.
Djotodia, whose diverse resume includes studying in the former Soviet Union and work as a consul in Sudan’s region of Darfur, initially signed on in January to serve as the defense minister in a unity government with his longtime foe, then-President Francois Bozize.
But that power-sharing deal fell apart. Only two months later, Djotodia’s forces invaded the capital, and he declared himself president of the impoverished but mineral-rich country for at least the next three years.
Certain people really care about tho$e things.
Although Djotodia emerged as the dominant leader of the alliance of rag-tag fighters known as Seleka, which means alliance in the local Sango language, some of his colleagues are already saying they never intended for him to single-handedly lead the country after Bozize’s ouster.
‘‘We didn’t battle to get rid of one dictator only to have another,’’ says Nelson N’Djadder, a rebel leader now threatening to fight Djotodia for leadership of a nation plagued by coups and rebellions.
Djotodia, a 60-something longtime rebel, was once a civil servant under Bozize’s predecessor and worked at the Central African Republic’s consulate in Nyala, in Sudan’s South Darfur state. Recent developments come as little surprise to some observers.
Another CIA switcheroo?
‘‘He has single-mindedly always wanted to be president of Central African Republic. He has been a tremendously ambitious man,’’ said Alex Vines, of Chatham House, a London-based institute on world affairs.
‘‘In the end he had one vision, which was to take power and he has done that unconstitutionally now,’’ Vines added.
Among potential rebel leaders, he managed to position himself front and center, said Louisa Lombard, of the University of California Berkeley, who has been traveling to Central African Republic for the past 10 years for research.
‘‘I think he’s mostly been successful through his diplomacy and negotiating alliances with different people and getting them on his side,’’ she said.
Lombard predicts: ‘‘I think it’s likely that we’ll see some struggles for control and power in the weeks to come.’’
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Then why did my Globe drop coverage save for this?
"Mob kills teen soldier in Senegal" Associated Press" May 11, 2013
DAKAR, Senegal — An angry mob stoned a 17-year-old soldier to death in Central African Republic who had been freed from a rebel group and moved to the capital for his own safety only to be re-recruited by armed fighters, the United Nations children’s agency said Friday.
The killing came amid growing resentment against the fighters, who seized the capital in March and took control of the government.
The mobs are roaming the streets and, human rights monitors say, killing people.
The slain included a priest and a woman carrying a baby.
The 17-year-old was among 64 children who had been demobilized from the rebel group known as Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace.
They were brought to the capital in December for their protection after a new rebellion was launched in the country’s volatile north, UNICEF said.
He was later recruited by the rebel alliance known as Seleka, which was created in December and ousted the president in March.
The teenager and a second former child soldier who had since turned 19 were killed by a mob in late April after the two reportedly stole a vehicle on the orders of a local rebel commander.
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Obama is there now and look at what he is talking about, as "many Africans have expressed disappointment over Obama’s lack of direct engagement with affairs on their continent — yet he was still enthusiastically welcomed. Thousands of people gathered on the roadways near the presidential palace as Obama’s motorcade sped through the coastal city, many in the crowds wearing white to symbolize peace."
Given his track record on the continent (Libyan overthrow, more drone strikes) that doesn't look like that enthusiastic an endorsement.
Oh, yeah, I'm I'm just a little offended that he put out the agenda-pu$hing, guilt-tripping, global-warming power plant dictate just before he jetted off to Africa, and is now barreling around in the "beast." I'm sure that gas-guzzling thing is doing great for greenhouse gases and African air while creating more desert for them (or so I am told).
