CAR: Army retakes northeastern town

Government troops retook Damara in the northeast of the Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday after a two-hour battle against rebels loyal to the former army chief of staff, Gen Francois Bozize, Junior Defence Minister Xavier Yangongo told IRIN. "The rebels were routed," he said on Sunday. "We used all necessary means to chase them out of the city." However, he declined to specify whether the government troops had seized the town single-handedly or with the backing of Libyan warplanes and forces of the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), based in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. The MLC forces entered the CAR in response to the government's appeal for help in repulsing Bozize's rebels who had invaded the capital, Bangui, on 25 October. Yangongo said he was due to tour Damara, 80 km northeast of Bangui, on Monday to assess human casualties and material damage. The town had been under rebel control ever since the rebels invaded Bangui. In November, government forces recaptured Bossembele, 157 km northwest of Bangui, thereby ending weeks of rebel occupation. These developments coincide with a conditional offer by the rebels for talks with the government. "Their conditions are the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops and the organisation of a national dialogue outside the CAR under the auspices of CEMAC [Economic and Monetary Community of Central African Sates]", the Rev Josue Binoua, chairman of a body calling itself the Civil Society Coordination (CSC), said on Saturday. The government had been "taking note" of the rebels' demands, he added. Binoua made contact with a rebel spokesman last week. The civil society body - comprising 204 associations, NGOs and trade unions - was created in late November to lay the groundwork for possible negotiations between the government and the rebels. It has been holding talks with all the political actors, and its representatives are to meet regional leaders such as President Omar Bongo of Gabon and Idriss Deby of Chad to discuss the efforts to restore peace the CAR. "We are now starting the second phase of harmonising the points of view of each side," Binoua said. So far, 90 CEMAC peacekeeping troops have arrived in the CAR and begun deploying. Their mission is to protect CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse, restructure the armed forces, and monitor the border between Chad and the CAR.