Leaders set up vigilante groups to restore security in the east

Leaders in the Central African Republic (CAR) eastern province of Haute Kotto have set up village vigilante groups in a bid to restore security in the province frequently attacked by highway robbers, cattle rustlers and poachers, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Wednesday.

The radio reported that the local leaders, led by Haute Kotto governor Serge Gabin Nakombo, agreed on the setting up of the vigilante groups during a meeting on Wednesday in Bria, 597 km northeast of the capital, Bangui.

Nakombo was quoted as saying that the self-defence volunteers would not substitute regular security forces but complement them by patrolling their neighbourhoods. The volunteers would also provide information to security officials about crime suspects.

The vigilante teams in Haute Kotto were set up weeks after security forces allegedly killed three self-defence volunteers in Bangui. Immediately after the killings, Bangui residents staged demonstrations to protest against insecurity and human rights violations by security forces and Chadians whom they described as mercenaries.

In a related development, the country's permanent military tribunal, which resumed work on Monday after eight years of suspension, has postponed the trial for five soldiers charged with gang-raping a woman on 28 October in a military barrack in Bangui.

The five, who were members of a presidential intelligence unit, were sacked following the incident and CAR leader Francois Bozize disbanded the unit.