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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Armed forces chief denies attack on northern town

BANAGUI, 12 August (IRIN) - Gen Ernest Betibangui, the chief of staff of the Central African Republic's (CAR) armed forces, on Sunday denied that there had been any attack on the northern town of Kabo, 65 km to the south of the CAR's border with Chad. "Nothing happened in that region," he told IRIN.

He was responding to news reports that forces loyal to the fugitive former CAR army general, Francois Bozize, had captured the town on Saturday. Bozize has been living in Chad since fleeing with some 300 supporters to the southern Chadian town of Sarh in November 2001, to evade arrest as ordered by a judicial commission probing a failed coup on 28 May 2001. He denied involvement, but ever since the coup attempt relations between Chad and the CAR have been strained.

Following clashes along the common border on 6 August, CAR Interior Minster Joseph Mounzole reassured Chadians in the CAR that despite the fighting they would not be harmed. He said the governments of both countries were trying to solve their problems peacefully. The CAR had at the time accused Chad of responsibility for a 15-km incursion into CAR, while Chad had accused "unidentified mercenaries" of attacking its soldiers in the border locality of Sido, Agence France Presse reported.

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