Government forces claim to have routed rebels

The government in the Central African Republic (CAR) has announced that all remaining rebels allied with former president Andre Kolingba, who launched a failed coup attempt on Monday, have been driven from the capital Bangui, according to Radio France Internationale (RFI). “We have successfully routed those who tried to stage this coup attempt, and we have occupied all the localities they took some days ago. We have recaptured the oil port as well as the transmitter station, which was slightly damaged, but we are going to work on it so that the national radio station is restored in the coming days,” RFI quoted Defence Minister Jean-Jacques Demafouth as saying. Mutinous soldiers disputed such claims, saying that they had withdrawn from the city for strictly strategic purposes and were simply awaiting orders from Kolingba to launch a counter-offensive. An NGO source in Bangui told IRIN that humanitarian organisations on the ground estimate a minimum of 50,000 displaced people are now in urgent need of food and medical attention. Unofficial death toll estimates of the 11-day ordeal range between 250 to 300 lives lost. The NGO source also said that some semblance of normality was returning to the city, as pedestrians and vehicles ventured out in the city centre. Another source reported that traffic was slowly starting up again on the main highway west of Bangui, and that some of those who had fled the city to avoid the fighting were beginning to return.