Armed groups may be preparing major offensive, AU says

Unidentified armed groups in the north of Central African Republic (CAR) may be preparing a major offensive, the African Union said in a report issued on Thursday. "The current modus operandi of the armed groups who are on foot gives the impression that they might be recruiting people to launch future major operations," according to a report on the findings of an AU mission which visited the region from 25 October to 8 November. In recent months, it said, attacks have been taking place in the prefectures closest to the borders with Cameroon and Chad. Between 12,000 and 15,000 Central Africans have fled to southern Chad. The AU said the security situation "suddenly deteriorated" in early June 2005, just before the swearing in of François Bozize as president of the republic. The AU would not confirm whether the attackers were bandits or rebels but said: "The professional nature of the operations on the ground carried out using sentries and routes for retreat and evacuation of the wounded, indicates that the perpetrators could be more than just bandits and highway robbers." The AU added, "Many soldiers faithful to former President Ange-Félix Patassé might be among the perpetrators of the armed activities carried out it in the affected areas." It also said soldiers, known as ex-liberators, who supported the 2003 rebellion that brought Bozize to power now felt "disgruntled about the meager gratuity" they had been paid for their support. Therefore, it said, the ex-liberators could also be part of any operation aimed at destabilising Bozize's government. "Deserters from the Chadian army could also be found in the areas affected by the insecurity," the AU added. The organisation's Peace and Security Council issued a resolution on Thursday requesting the AU Commission - which is the AU secretariat - to "actively involve itself" in initiatives to end the insecurity. The resolution also appealed to AU member states and partners to strengthen the 380-strong peacekeeping force of the six-nation Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, known as FOMUC, which is deployed to the CAR. The AU said given the scale of the problem in CAR FOMUC was "an insignificant force". The resolution was issued after CAR's Foreign Minister Laurent Ngoh Baba gave a news conference at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa on Thursday, saying he had asked the continental body for military aid. The AU said government soldiers deployed to the affected areas were "ill equipped and unmotivated" and there number was insufficient to cope with the magnitude of the problem. "These inadequacies are occasionally made up for by the limited support of soldiers from the Chadian Army," the AU said. "France has also promised to provide the government with air facilities to cope with the problem."