CEMAC troops begin disarmament campaign in eastern town

Government troops and the peacekeeping force of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States, known by its French acronym CEMAC, have begun disarming the bearers of illegal firearms in the town of Bambari, 385 km east of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). The spokesman for the CEMAC force, Col Augustin Bibaye, told IRIN on Tuesday that the troops had conducted similar operations in other parts of the country, and that they would take some time in Bambari, before returning to Bangui. The original mandate of the CEMAC force became obsolete when former army chief of staff Francois Bozize seized power from President Ange-Felix Patasse on 15 March. The force had initially been mandated to protect Patasse, secure the CAR-Chad border and to restructure the CAR army. After a CEMAC summit in Libreville, Gabon, on 3 June, the force's mandate changed to that of securing and defending Bangui and the country's other major towns, conducting disarmament operations, securing the main transport routes in the country and curbing insecurity in the north. The Libreville summit also officially recognised Bozize's administration and reinforced the CEMAC force with 121 Chadian soldiers. The Chadians joined 139 Gabonese and 120 Republic of Congo troops. On 18 June, Bibaye told IRIN the force had recovered 1,500 arms. In its emergency programme presented on Saturday to a visiting UN mission, the government indicated that there were at least 20,000 illegal firearms that were yet to be recovered. Insecurity had hit the north and central parts of CAR in the recent past, with armed bandits roaming the countryside. Traffic in these zones was severely affected and many displaced people hesitated to return home. Humanitarian operations were reported to be impossible in some areas due to insecurity. Meanwhile, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday that Bozize, who is also the minister for defence, had reinforced a curfew imposed on Bangui after the coup. It now starts at 10:00 p.m. and ends at 05:00 a.m. Previously it was from midnight until 05:00 a.m. No reason was given for the change in the duration of the curfew.