President asks France for troops

Central African Republic (CAR) President Ange-Félix Patasse has called on France to send troops to help a regional African force restore peace in his country. "I launch an urgent and formal appeal to France to be militarily present alongside the CAR army and the CEMAC [Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States] force to help us recover our territorial integrity and secure our country as it [France] is currently doing in Cote d'Ivoire," he said on Tuesday in a nationwide New Year message broadcast over state-owned Radio Centrafrique. A French military presence would boost the current presence of some 231 CEMAC soldiers, all of them Gabonese. Patasse said a French presence would also enable CAR to exploit its oil-rich northern area. French troops were sent to CAR in 1979 to help the country's first president, David Dacko, overthrow the self-styled "emperor", Jean-Bedel Bokassa. They left in 1997 when the socialist government in France reduced its military presence in Africa. French troops also supported Patasse's government during the 1996-1997 mutinies. Patasse, whose current administration is under attack from former soldiers led by the former CAR army chief of staff, Gen Francois Bozize, said relations between the CAR and France had improved considerably since the May 2002 re-election of the conservative government of President Jacques Chirac. However, despite the improved relations with the Patasse government, Bozize has been granted exile in France. So too, has André Kolingba, the CAR president from 1981-1993, who led an unsuccessful coup against Patasse in May 2001. Patasse's government has also asked Paris to silence many other opposition leaders living in France. Meanwhile, CAR Foreign Minister Agba Otikpo Mezode has told the heads of diplomatic missions in the country that "the last of the CEN-SAD [Community of Sahelo-Saharan States] force composed of Libyan troops mandated to protect the head of the state left Bangui on 27-28 December 2002". The Libyan troops had been in the country since Kolingba's abortive coup effort in May 2001. In 2002, troops from Djibouti and Sudan, also members of CEN-SAD, jointed the Libyans. All took active part, using heavy artillery and warplanes, in putting down Bozize's rebellion. Troops from CEMAC have now replaced the CEN-SAD force. So far, the CEMAC force has not yet attained its envisaged 300- to 350-man strength. Other contingents are expected from Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and from Mali, which is not a CEMAC member. CEMAC troops began patrolling the streets of the capital, Bangui, on 26 December and are also responsible for protecting Patasse. The force will also monitor the border with Chad and restructure the army. Speaking on UN-sponsored Radio Ndeke Luka, Mezode told the diplomats that a joint CAR-Chad commission was to meet in February to discuss ways of settling the dispute between the two countries. He then urged Chad to seize all looted goods belonging to the CAR government, individuals, churches or organisations being sold on Chadian markets, so that they could be returned.