Former aide of ex-President Koningba arrested

Former Defence Minister Guillaume Lucien Ndjengbot has been arrested at Bangui M'poko International Airport on his return from exile, according to a government communique read on Wednesday on Radio Centrafrique. Ndengbot, who served under former President Andre Kolingba, was arrested on Monday as he stepped off a private jet. The government-owned radio did not state the reason for the arrest. However, citing the communiqué signed by Justice Minister Gabriel Gbodou, the radio reported that it had nothing to do with Kolingba's abortive coup on 28 May 2001. Government spokesman Zarambeaud Assingambi, also told IRIN on Wednesday: "Ndjengbot's arrest has to do with justice. The government will be as transparent as possible in that affair." Ndjengbot was first arrested in 1994 on criminal charges relating to crimes allegedly perpetrated in Berberati (186 km west of Bangui), where he was governor during the October 1992 presidential election, after which Ange-Felix Patasse defeated Kolingba. Ndengbot was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was serving this sentence when Kolingba's supporters freed him from prison during the May 2001 coup. At the time he was waiting for a retrial requested by his defence lawyer, Zarambeaud Assingambi, the current government spokesman. Ndjengbot, a former general, was a close collaborator of Kolingba who led the country from 1981 to 1993. Kolingba was among those who were sentenced to death in August 2002 by the CAR criminal court in connection with Kolingba's May 2001 coup. Ndjengbot had been living in Gbadolite, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo since his escape. The radio announced that security services have returned him to the jail where he was previously detained. His arrest is the first of a ranking public figure since Bozize seized power on 15 March and has come at a time when many exiles, mostly from Kolingba's Yakoma ethnic group, have started returning home. Kolingba's party has already announced his intention to return but only with an amnesty. Analysts say that Ndjenbgot's arrest will most likely delay Kolingba's return and hamper the new regime's reconciliation efforts.