Calm returns to Bangui after general flees

The situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui, was reported to be calm after soldiers loyal to President Ange-Felix Patasse forced former army chief Gen. Francois Bozize and his supporters to flee northward from the city on Wednesday. Radio Centrafrique reported on Thursday that shops, banks and administrative offices were open for business, and that CAR Minister of Civil Service, Employment and Social Security, Laurent Gonbala, was urging all public and private sector workers to return to work. CAR Minister of Public Works, Transport and Settlement, Andre Toby Kotazo, said roadblocks that had been set up in the northern part of Bangui have been removed and that traffic has resumed. "I appeal to all our partners, to all our neighbours, to all Central Africans who are involved in business, to move about freely," he said. Efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution to the stand-off had been led by the UN Representative of the Secretary-General to the CAR, Lamine Cisse, while diplomats from neighbouring central African countries and the Organisation of African Unity had also been sent to help resolve the crisis. However, claiming Bozize was prolonging negotiations in order to launch a coup with the aid of unnamed foreign backers, government forces dislodged Bozize and his supporters on Wednesday from the barracks where they had been based in northern Bangui. They fled northward in a truck, and on Friday, some of Bozize's soldiers were sighted at the border of Chad. The whereabouts of Bozize were unknown. Presidential spokesman Prosper Ndouba called on Bozize "to present himself to the legal authorities", adding, "The president of the republic is committed to ensuring his security". Officials have not released details on casualties. Meanwhile, news emerged on Friday that CAR National Assembly deputy leader Jean-Serge Wafio had been arrested earlier this week en route to a meeting with Bozize. Speaking with AFP on Thursday, Wafio's wife Marie said her husband had been asked by a group of elders from Bozize's home region of Ouham to arrange a meeting "with Gen. Bozize to give him a document, the contents of which were known to the president". Wafio and Bozize are both ethnic Gbayas from Ouham. "He has been detained for two days at the inquiry and research department, where he has been barred from receiving visitors, including his lawyer," Marie Wafio told AFP. Some 180 Libyan soldiers, 100 of whom had remained in Bangui following their intervention to protect Patasse in the wake of a failed coup in May, have backed government forces. Tripoli sent another 80 reinforcements on Monday.