Army deploys to insecure northeast

The Central African Republic (CAR) government has deployed an infantry battalion in the town of Bria, to the northeast of the country, to restore security, government-run Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday. A new commander was also named for the battalion that arrived in Bria on Saturday. The town is 597 km northeast of the capital, Bangui. The military had previously declared the town "insecure" for humanitarian operations. The CAR military presented on Friday a "security map" to the UN system in the country, declaring as safe roads leading from Bangui to Carnot (281 km to the west); to Ippy (500 km to the northeast); to Bouar (454 km to the northwest) and to Bassangoa (305 km to the north). Radio Centrafrique reported that Warrant Officer ***[FRENCH = AJUTANT] Stanislas Ngbonga Ngbongo was commanding Bria's first territorial infantry battalion. Local administrative authorities attended a ceremony on Saturday to welcome the troops, the radio reported. Presenting the security map, the CAR military announced that the government had positioned its troops in northern cities of Bozoum (384 of Bangui), Bossemptele ( 295 km of Bangui) and Bossembele (157 km of Bangui). Like in other eastern cities, military and administrative authorities had not reported to their posts in Bria since October 2002, when former army chief of staff Francois Bozize launched his rebellion against Present Ange-Felix Patasse. Bozize seized power in a coup on 15 March. Bozize has failed to restore security in the east and north of the country, preventing humanitarian organisations from helping war-affected populations and the displaced from returning home. Late in May, an Italian NGO, Coperazione Internationale (COOPI), postponed its emergency medical programmes in the north due to insecurity. The NGO, together with the UN, is scheduled to send an assessment mission to two towns in the north and in the east this week. Meanwhile, the four of the eight leaders of Patasse's Mouvement de Liberation du Peuple Centrafricain, who were Sunday as they held a meeting in Bangui, were released on Monday. A member of the party's executive board, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on Tuesday that the leaders had been held in a military barrack. The source said the Nigerian embassy had refused to allow back a former minister of state for communication, Gabriel Jean Edouard Koyambounou, who had been hiding in its premises since the coup.