Bozize may face prosecution

The former army chief of staff of the Central African Republic (CAR), Gen Francois Bozize, may face prosecution for crimes allegedly committed in August 2002 in the north of the country. In a news release issued on 31 August, the CAR chief prosecutor's office demanded that an investigation be carried out into recent hostilities in the north, along the border with Chad. "We have received many complaints from Kabo, Batangafo and Moyenne Sido including the summary assassination of the former mayor of Kabo," CAR Chief Prosecutor Joseph Bindoumi told IRIN. Bindoumi added that a decision in December 2001 putting an end to all legal proceedings against Bozize and his supporters did not cover the crimes committed in August 2002. "If the investigation concludes that assassinations, pillages, rapes... were committed, then Bozize will be prosecuted," he said. He said that Bozize himself admitted on Radio France Internationale to having attacked Kabo, located 65 km from the Chadian border, with the aim of acquiring arms, ammunition, cars and food. Bozize fled CAR in November 2001 after an armed resistance against troops who were sent to arrest him in connection with a coup he was allegedly preparing. Legal proceedings against him and his supporters were abandoned in December 2001 "to defuse the tense situation and encourage national reconciliation", Radio Centrafrique reported.