Bangui surprised by rebel's presence in France

The unexpected presence in France of the Central African Republic (CAR) former army chief of staff, Francois Bozize, will not affect the government's plans to expel the Chadian rebel, Abdoulaye Miskine, to the West African nation of Togo, an official in the CAR capital, Bangui, has said.

"Miskine's transfer to Lome is now a question of days," Prosper Ndouba, the CAR presidential spokesman, told IRIN on Thursday.

However, Ndouba said Bangui had been surprised by Bozize's sudden appearance in France, because arrangements had been made for him to go elsewhere. "We were surprised, because President [Ange-Felix] Patasse had obtained President [Abdelaziz] Bouteflika's agreement for Bozize's resettlement in Algeria," Ndouba added.

Bozize and Miskine are at the origin of the misunderstanding between Chad and the CAR. Bozize fled his country to neighbouring Chad in November 2001 to avoid being questioned about an abortive coup against Patasse. Since then, tension has grown steadily; with Bangui accusing Ndjamena of ignoring Bozize's armed cross-border raids into the CAR. Similarly, Chad has demanded that CAR end Miskine's cross-border raids into Chad.

A summit of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community on 2 October decided on the expulsions of Bozize and Miskine as a way of easing tension between the CAR and Chad. The regional leaders also decided to deploy a 300-man force from the community to monitor the Chadian-CAR border, and protect Patasse. Gabon's Africa No. 1 Radio reported that the community's military chiefs were meeting to finalise details of the deployment.