Thousands rally for embattled CAR leader

Central African Republic’s embattled President Francois Bozize appealed Thursday for French and US help to halt a rebel advance as regional troops moved in to secure the capital in an escalating crisis in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The United Nations is pulling out its staff and the United States has warned its citizens to leave in the face of the deteriorating security situation as rebel fighters close in on Bangui, creating alarm among residents.

“We ask our French cousins and the United States of America, the great powers, to help us to push back the rebels… to allow for dialogue in Libreville to resolve the current crisis,” Bozize told thousands of supporters at a rally in Bangui.

“There is no question of allowing them to kill Central Africans, of letting them destroy houses and pillage, and holding a knife to our throats to demand dialogue,” said Bozize, who himself seized power in a coup in 2003.

“It is a plot against the Central African Republic, a plot against its people.”

Organisers said 10,000 government supporters converged on central Bangui which a rally leader described as “our Tahrir Square”.

The protesters blew whistles and waved banners reading “Say No to war” and “No to rebellions”.

The rebel coalition known as Seleka has seized four regional capitals, including a diamond mining hub, since its fighters took up arms on December 10 but said it had no plans to move on the capital.

President Francois Hollande said France would not use its troops stationed in the country to interfere in the conflict, which is escalating despite both sides apparently agreeing to hold talks in Libreville.

“If we are present, it is not to protect a regime, it is to protect our nationals and our interests, and in no way to intervene in the internal affairs of a country,” Hollande said. “Those days are gone.”

A French foreign ministry spokesman said however that Paris “condemns the continued hostility by the rebel groups” and that the crisis should be resolved through dialogue.

In Bangui, a French national said the population feared looting and a breakdown of order. “It would not take much for things to explode,” she said, but added that there was no immediate cause for concern.

France has around 250 soldiers based at Bangui airport providing technical support to a peacekeeping mission run by the central African bloc ECCAS.

Since the end of colonisation in the 1960s, French troops in western Africa have often come to the help of former colonies.

General Jean-Felix Akaga, commander of the regional central African military force known as FOMAC, said Bangui was “fully secured” by its troops, adding that others will arrive to help reinforce the mission.