Bangui residents 'fear Libyan pull-out'

Patasse wants the Libyans and the Congolese to stay

The people of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), are worried for their security after Libya said that it would withdraw its troops from the CAR, as planned, when a regional force takes over.

The BBC's Joseph Benamsse in Bangui says they are particularly concerned after the deployment of Congolese rebels towards the north of the capital, where cases of rape and looting are still being reported.

Libya's Gaddafi sent troops to back Patasse

The president of the CAR, Ange-Felix Patasse, had said on Saturday that the Libyan troops who have been protecting him for 18 months would not leave after all, and that the Congolese rebels who supported his government against a rebellion last month would also stay in the country.

Our correspondent says that it seems President Patasse does not really have the will to keep his promises.

Libya's announcement, on Monday, that it will pull out its 200 troops from the CAR when a regional Central African Economic and Monetary Community (Cemac) force of at least 350 men takes over, has surprised many in the country, in particular the government and President Patasse himself.

"We will leave" Bangui, Libyan Minister for African Unity Ali Abdel Salam Triki told Radio France International.

"The Cemac troops must arrive, and then, definitely, we will agree on a timetable," he said.

Our correspondent says that if the Libyans leave, the presidential guard will not be sufficient to guarantee President Patasse's security.

'Harmony'

Mr Patasse said on Saturday that the rebels of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), believed to number at least 1,000, would stay on.

He said Jean-Pierre Bemba's men were "at home" in the CAR, and that they lived "in harmony with the people".

"The people of the CAR need peace. When I have consolidated peace, I will see," he said.

Bemba has urged his men to stop looting and raping

At a summit in Libreville a month ago, the member countries of Cemac decided that the Libyan troops deployed in the CAR after the attempted coup in May 2001, would be replaced by a regional force.

This would look after the president's security and monitor the work of mixed patrols along the border with Chad, which the CAR has accused of trying to destabilise it.

President Patasse now says he only wants the force to guarantee security at the border. He did not mention joint patrols.

But a Gabonese official has said it cannot be taken for granted that Cemac will accept this "unilateral" redefinition of its mandate.

The Libreville accords do not make provision for a "buffer" force, the anonymous official told the French news agency, AFP.

The commander of the Cemac force, General Mohamed Achim Ratanga, arrived in Bangui from Gabon last week to prepare for the force's deployment, which is supposed to take place in about 10 days' time.