C.African Republic capital falls to rebels, Bozize flees
Bozize (above) had crossed the Oubangi river into Congo on Sunday morning.
At least six South African soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebels, a Reuters witness said. A United Nations source said the force, in the country to train the army along with hundreds of regional peacekeepers, was preparing to leave.
The Seleka rebel coalition resumed hostilities this week in the mineral-rich former French colony, vowing to oust Bozize, whom it accused of breaking a January peace agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.
The landlocked country, racked by rural rebellions for more than a decade, has extensive and unprotected borders and the rebel advance added to instability in the heart of Africa.
As the loose coalition of rebels - some of them former rivals - tightened their grip on Bangui, it was unclear who would replace Bozize or whether the power-sharing government of Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye would remain in place.
"The rebels control the town," said presidency spokesman Gaston Mackouzangba. "I hope there will not be any reprisals."
Government spokesman Crepin Mboli-Goumba said the Seleka rebels controlled all the strategic locations in the city.
A presidential advisor, who asked not to be named, said Bozize had crossed the Oubangi river into Congo on Sunday morning as rebel forces headed for the presidential palace. Bozize had seized power in a 2003 military coup.
A United Nations official in Congo said Kinshasa's government asked the U.N. refugee agency to help move 25 members of Bozize's family out of the border town of Zongo on Sunday.
Congo's Information Minister Lambert Mende told Reuters President Bozize was not among the family members who arrived in Zongo and said his arrival in the country had not been announced to Congolese authorities.
"The palace has just fallen. We have the palace," Eric Massi, a Seleka spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from Paris.
SOUTH AFRICANS ATTACKED
The rebels fought their way to the northern suburbs of the riverside capital late on Saturday before an overnight lull in the fighting. But residents said heavy weapons fire erupted across Bangui around 8 AM (0700 GMT).
Massi said the rebels had broken through a line of South African soldiers during their push into the city.
Around 400 South African troops are currently in the country. "I saw the bodies of six South African soldiers. They had all been shot. Their vehicles were also destroyed. Other South African soldiers came to recover the bodies," a Reuters witness said.
Regional peacekeeping sources said the South Africans had fought alongside the Central African Republic's army on Saturday.
"I cannot confirm that we were fighting alongside (the CAR army) but we fell under attack and we defended ourselves and we repulsed the attackers," South African army spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga told private South African news channel eENCA.
Reached by Reuters, he said he could give no further details of the incident, saying it was an "operational matter."
A source with the United Nations in Bangui said South African troops were preparing to leave the country.
"They took substantial losses and have asked for French support to load their troops and take off," said the source, adding she had heard anywhere between two and 12 South African soldiers had been killed.
France, which already has some 250 soldiers stationed in the Central African Republic, sent in another company of 150 troops to secure Bangui's international airport, a diplomatic source said on Saturday.
Seleka, a loose umbrella group of insurgents, fought its way to the gates of the capital late last year after accusing Bozize of failing to honour an earlier peace deal to give its fighters cash and jobs in exchange for laying down their arms.
The Seleka rebels received several key ministerial portfolios under a power-sharing agreement specified by January's peace deal, and one of their leaders was named deputy prime minister in charge of national defence.
However, rebels and opposition figures accused Bozize at the time of tampering with the agreed deal to secure important ministerial posts for his loyalists.
The violence is the latest in a series of rebel incursions, clashes and coups that have plagued the nation since its independence from France in 1960.
Reuters
Rais wa China, Mhe. Xi Jinping na mke
wake wakiteremka kwenye ndege mara baada ya kuwasili kwenye Uwanja wa
Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Julius Nyerere Jijini Dar es Salaam kwa Ziara ya
Kitaifa ya siku mbili hapa nchini.
Mhe. Rais Xi Jinping na Mhe. Rais
Kikwete wakiwa katika Jukwaa Maalum wakati nyimbo za mataifa yao
zilipokuwa zikipigwa sambamba na mizinga 21 kwa heshima ya Mhe. Rais Xi
Jinping.
Mhe. Rais Xi Jinping akikagua Gwaride Maalum lililoandaliwa kwa heshima yake.
Mhe. Rais Xi Jinping na mwenyeji
wake Mhe. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania
wakiwasalimia baadhi ya kina mama wa Dar es Salaam waliofika Uwanjani
hapo kwa ajili ya mapokezi.
Mhe. Rais Xi Jinping na mwenyeji wake
Mhe. Rais Kikwete kwa pamoja na wake zao wakifurahia burudan iliyokuwa
ikitolewa na moja ya viku ndi vya burudani vilivyokuwa uwanjani hapo
mara baada ya Rais Xi Jinping kuwasili nchini.
Mhe.
Rais Xi Jinping na Mhe. Rais Kikwete wakiondoka uwanjani hapo mara
baada ya mapokezi.Picha Zote na Wizara ya Mambo ya Nje na Ushirikiano wa
Kimataifa
“This highly critical report shows that practical failings in the immigration system are getting worse. Instead of increasing the rhetoric on immigration David Cameron and Theresa May need to deal with these serious failings on illegal immigration, enforcement and effectiveness.
"As we have said for some time, Britain does not need an arms race on immigration rhetoric, it needs practical measures to make sure the system works and immigration is properly managed and controlled.
“The list of failures under Theresa May identified in this report is extensive and too serious to ignore.
"The Home Secretary wrote off nearly 100,000 asylum seeker applications last year without proper checks.
"Fewer foreign criminals are being deported and more are being released into the community instead. In addition since the election there has been a 50 per cent drop in the number of people refused entry, fewer illegal migrants have been deported, more people have absconded at the border, fewer have been caught, and the number of businesses fined for employing illegal workers has gone down.
"Delays in dealing with asylum cases are getting worse - leaving recognised refugees in limbo and making it harder to send failed cases home.
"And at the same time visa delays for legitimate migrants who bring money into the economy are getting worse - only 20% of 'entrepreneur applications' and 14% of student postal applications are being dealt with on time.
“The Home Secretary is ignoring illegal immigration and visa delays because they don't count towards her net migration target. And problems for UKBA are likely to increase as last week’s Budget made clear an extra £200m is being taken out of UKBA on top of the £700m cut already delivered.
"These practical failings undermine effectiveness and public confidence in the entire system. Instead of rhetoric, it is important Ministers get the basics right especially tackling illegal immigration, improving effectiveness and enforcement so the system properly works"
Yvette Cooper: This highly critical report shows that practical failings in the immigration system are getting worse Commenting on the Home Affairs Select Committee Report, The Work of the UK Border Agency (July-September 2012), Yvette Cooper MP Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary said:
“This highly critical report shows that practical failings in the immigration system are getting worse. Instead of increasing the rhetoric on immigration David Cameron and Theresa May need to deal with these serious failings on illegal immigration, enforcement and effectiveness.
"As we have said for some time, Britain does not need an arms race on immigration rhetoric, it needs practical measures to make sure the system works and immigration is properly managed and controlled.
“The list of failures under Theresa May identified in this report is extensive and too serious to ignore.
"The Home Secretary wrote off nearly 100,000 asylum seeker applications last year without proper checks.
"Fewer foreign criminals are being deported and more are being released into the community instead. In addition since the election there has been a 50 per cent drop in the number of people refused entry, fewer illegal migrants have been deported, more people have absconded at the border, fewer have been caught, and the number of businesses fined for employing illegal workers has gone down.
"Delays in dealing with asylum cases are getting worse - leaving recognised refugees in limbo and making it harder to send failed cases home.
"And at the same time visa delays for legitimate migrants who bring money into the economy are getting worse - only 20% of 'entrepreneur applications' and 14% of student postal applications are being dealt with on time.
“The Home Secretary is ignoring illegal immigration and visa delays because they don't count towards her net migration target. And problems for UKBA are likely to increase as last week’s Budget made clear an extra £200m is being taken out of UKBA on top of the £700m cut already delivered.
"These practical failings undermine effectiveness and public confidence in the entire system. Instead of rhetoric, it is important Ministers get the basics right especially tackling illegal immigration, improving effectiveness and enforcement so the system properly works"
