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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 17 February 2006

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Violence in the northwest claimed 27, Red Cross says

BANGUI, 17 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The national Red Cross of the Central African Republic has confirmed it had buried more dead bodies than officially announced following violence in the northwestern town of Pahoua on 29 December 2005.

"We have reports from our personnel on the ground who acknowledged they registered and buried 27 bodies," Antoine M'Bao Bogo, the Red Cross chairman, said on Friday. "This figure is just partial because our team in Pahoua did not count all the dead bodies due to lack of logistics."

Violence broke out in Pahoua, Ouham-Pende Province, in December when armed men attacked a military base in the region. Although sources said an armed rebellion was brewing in the province, the government has maintained that the armed men active in the area are common bandits.

The Red Cross death toll contradicts one the government gave after the violence. The government had said 10 assailants died and the country’s security forces had captured six others.

However, the Member of Parliament for Pahoua, Luc Appolinaire Dondon Konamambaye, said on Monday that the death toll was higher.

"I can assure you that the number of death is beyond 104," he said. "People in my constituency have details about the massacre in the region last year."

The government has not officially challenged the Red Cross figure. Konamambaye said evidence on the correct number of the dead would be produced.

For the past six months, armed groups have been storming and looting villages in the northwestern provinces of Ouham and Ouham-Pende; raping women and killing civilians.

In January, regular troops backed by troops of the regional economic group, CEMAC, and French military helicopters launched operations to clear the region of the armed groups but, so far, calm has not returned.

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but May not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006