Former rebels end demonstration

Former rebels loyal to the Central African Republic (CAR) leader, Francois Bozize, have removed their roadblocks from the main road in the north of the capital, Bangui, after demonstrating on Saturday to demand integration into the army. "We want the general [Bozize] to honour his promise of sending us to training centres before our integration," one of the strikers, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on Saturday. On that day, from 09:00 until late in the evening, about 100 unarmed demonstrators blocked the road leading from the city centre to the north as far as to a point 1 km from Bozize's residence. They stoned cars, and extorted money and mobile phones from male pedestrians at the roadblocks. Members of the presidential security guard and of the peacekeeping force of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) then intervened with tanks. They did not disperse the demonstrators, but interacted with them instead. "We urged the strikers to start negotiations in order to settle the matter peacefully," Col Augustin Bibaye, the CEMAC force's spokesman, told IRIN on Sunday. "They want to leave the status of rebels for the one of full CAR soldiers," Bibaye said.