LIBREVILLE (AFP) – Central Africa’s prime minister on Saturday called on the rebels who have advanced to within striking distance of the capital to negotiate to avoid a blood bath in the coup-prone country.
“The prime minister (Nicolas Tiangaye) asks our brothers of the Seleka (rebel coalition) to get in touch with the national unity government to find a peaceful solution and avoid a blood bath,” a spokesman for the premier, Me Crepin Mboli Goumba, told AFP.
The call came a day after Seleka rebels pushed their way to the gates of the capital Bangui following the collapse of a two-month-old peace deal in the mineral-rich but impoverished country that has been plagued by instability since its independence from France in 1960.