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UN chief slams coup in Central African Republic

By IANS,

United Nations : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the rebels’ seizure of state power in the Central African Republic (CAR) and called for earliest restoration of the constitutional order.

Rebels seized control of Central African Republic’s capital Bangui after President Francois Bozize fled to Cameroon, reports said Sunday.

“The secretary-general condemns the unconstitutional seizure of power that took place in the Central African Republic (CAR) on 24 March 2013 and calls for the swift restoration of constitutional order,” Xinhua cited a UN statement as saying late Sunday.

The power seizure is the most significant step yet for the rebellion by guerrillas who call themselves “Seleka”, meaning alliance in the Sango language.

Seleka launched an insurgency Dec 10, 2012, accusing Bozize of failing to implement a series of peace accords signed in Libreville since 2007.

It launched a lightening blitz this week after giving the government a deadline to honour a peace deal signed in January. It required release of political prisoners, integrating rebels into the national army and pulling out South African and Ugandan troops deployed in the country to protect the Bangui-based government.