NGO cautions against possible mines in northwestern town

A British mine-clearance NGO, Halo Trust, has advised caution in the Central African Republic (CAR) town of Damara, 80 km northwest of the capital, Bangui, because residents fear that unpaved streets may have been mined by retreating rebels two weeks ago.

"I went to Damara this morning and people there were afraid of mines off the tarmac road," William Longe, who led a month-long mission of the NGO to CAR, said on Friday.

"We gave instructions to the population that if they see any spot where the soil has been recently turned up they should inform military authorities," Xavier Yangongo, the CAR deputy defence minister, told IRIN on Monday.

Rebels loyal to the former army chief of staff, Gen Francois Bozize, controlled Damara for over a month before government forces, backed by Libyan troops and a rebel militia from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, flushed them out.

"As the rebels used them [mines] here in Bangui, there was a chance that probably they would use some in Damara", Longe said. He was in Damara on 13 December for an hour-long assessment of the mine report. Longe, who concluded that the mine situation in CAR was not as worrying as in Angola, Eritrea or Afghanistan, said nobody had been reported killed or wounded by the devices in CAR since rebels invaded Bangui on 25 October.

So far, military engineers have not inspected the areas for mines. Longe said that because of the need to remain neutral in the fighting, Halo Trust could not boost the CAR's military mine-clearance capability. "In time of war, we cannot provide assistance, we work on our own," he said.

However, he said, Halo Trust would set up a permanent office to investigate the landmine situation in the CAR. Landmines have never been used in any prior conflict in this country. The CAR army has no mines on its inventory, and in September the government signed the international convention banning the devices.

Although the rebels were ousted from Damara, they still control the north of the country. A regional summit on 2 October of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) set up a 300- to 350-man peace force for the CAR, but so far only 110 have arrived.

The spokesman of the CAR government, Minister of State Gabriel Jean Edouard Koyambounou, on 13 December criticised the slow deployment of the force. He said Libyan troops, who have been in the country since the failed May 2001 coup by former President Andre Kolingba, would remain until all the CEMAC forces arrived. The CEMAC forces are mandated to protect President Ange-Felix Patasse, monitor the Chad-CAR border and restructure the army.

Meanwhile, on 14 December, Radio Centrafrique announced the death of Gen Ernest Betibangui, who succeeded Bozize as army chief of staff. He had died "after a short illness", the radio said.