CAR rebels gain ground

The MLC troops were supposed to be withdrawn

The government of the Central African Republic has sent troops from its Congolese allies to stop a rebel advance on the CAR's second largest military base.

Some 1,000 troops from the Congolese rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), have recently arrived in the CAR capital, Bangui.

The BBC's Joseph Benamse in Bangui says that some of these have already been sent to the base at Bouar, while others are preparing to go to Bozoum, which rebels loyal to former army chief Francois Bozize recently recaptured.

President Ange-Felix Patasse has meanwhile repeated a call for former colonial power France to send troops into CAR, as it has done in the Ivory Coast conflict.

Rebels control some 70% of CAR territory and our correspondent says that supplies of the staple food, cassava, are running low in Bangui as most of the agricultural areas are in rebel hands.

He also says that residents of the capital are worried about their relatives, as they cannot travel to rebel-controlled areas.

'Discrimination'

Mr Patasse had said that the MLC troops backing him up would be withdrawn after they were accused of killing, raping and looting by Bangui residents when putting down a rebel attack near the capital last year.

Patasse wants France to intervene

But he wants French troops to hold back the rebel advance, as they have done in Ivory Coast.

"There are French soldiers in Ivory Coast. So why not CAR? It's discrimination... I am asking that France send us soldiers, too," he said.

France has previously intervened in several CAR conflicts but its last troops left Bangui in 1998.

In a bid to calm tensions, Mr Bozize has been granted exile in France, together, reportedly, with the former CAR President, Andre Kolingba.