Bangui asks UN missions to help recover boat held by rebels

The Central Africa Republic (CAR) has asked the UN Peace-building Office in the country, known by its French acronym BONUCA, and the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) to help it recover a vessel that a Congolese rebel group seized in early June. Communications Minister Parfait Mbaye told IRIN on Tuesday that the government had asked MONUC, through BONUCA, to contact the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo (MLC), a rebel group headed by Jean Pierre Bemba, which controls northern DRC. The vessel was seized in Dongou, a northwestern Congolese town located on the left bank of River Oubangui, 200 km south of Bangui, the CAR capital. Its was sailing to Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo (ROC) capital, with an unknown number of passengers. The MLC controls Dongou. "A woman who managed to escape said the passengers had been ill-treated," Mbaye said. He added that the government was not planning to hold talks with the MLC on the issue. He said that as a result of the incident, traffic on the river, to the south, had been suspended. River Oubangui, which serves as a border between the CAR and the DRC, is vital to the CAR economy as most of its oil and other goods from the ROC seaport of Pointe-Noire are channelled on it during the rainy season. To avoid sand dunes, vessels frequently sail in either country’s waters. During the rebellion of October 2002 to March 2003 rebels loyal to current CAR leader Francois Bozize fought government troops who were supported by the MLC. Most of the fighting took place in the north of the country. The MLC fighters retreated to the DRC after Bozize seized power from President Ange-Felix Patasse on 15 March. Under Patasse’s administration, the MLC was reported to have used the CAR as its supply base. Mbaye said the government had not closed the border to "let goods enter into Zongo", a Congolese town across the river from Bangui.