Public rises up against Congolese fighters

Government security forces restored calm to a northern suburb of the capital, Bangui, on Friday where angry residents had set up road blocks in protest against pro-government rebels from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), whose car knocked down three children, witnesses said. "The soldiers shot in the air from 02:00 to 05:00 this morning and removed the road blocks," a witness in Fouh, where the incident took place, told IRIN. Reacting to the incident, residents of Fouh, wielding sticks, machetes and axes, set up the roadblocks on Thursday. Combatants of the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), who had come to the Central African Republic (CAR) in October to help President Ange-Felix Patasse put down a rebel revolt, were driving the car involved. They have been widely accused of raping, looting and engaging in other forms of violence against CAR civilians. Speaking on state-owned Radio Centrafrique on Friday, Prime Minister Martin Ziguele reassured the residents that the three children were still alive and being cared for by the president's personal physician. He did not describe the extent of their injuries, but said the government would pay their medical bills. The fury directed against the MLC is extreme to the extent that residents have refused to bury the corpses of its fighters killed on the battlefield or in revenge attacks. Anti-Congolese feelings have prompted at least 1,500 Congolese traders to return to the DRC. The CAR government has promised to withdraw the MLC rebels and the Libyans as soon as the peacekeeping troops from the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States arrive in strength. The first 90 of the planned 300 to 350 troops arrived in Bangui on Wednesday.