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Senior commanders quit Central African Republic rebel group
Seleka fighters take a break as they sit on a pick-up truck in the town of Goya, June 11, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
23/09/2014
BANGUI (Reuters) - Four senior generals have quit the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group controlling northern Central African Republic, saying they disagreed with secessionist plans for its northern enclave, a rebel spokesman said on Monday.
The commanders, including Seleka's deputy military chief General Mahamat Al Khatimand its head of operations General Ali Daras, announced the decision after a meeting in the town of Bambari, which the rebels have made their headquarters.
Hamat Nejad, Seleka's former spokesman who joined the defectors, said the rebel group's leaders had no desire to make peace with an interim government and planned to attack the southern capital Bangui despite the presence of U.N. and French peacekeepers.
"We're opposed to the idea of the partition of Central African Republic and the idea of marching on Bangui," Nejad told Reuters by telephone. "It's no longer time for war, but peace and dialogue."
However, he said the breakaway rebel generals would continue to fight "for the right of every Central African to live freely in this land" -- an apparent reference to attacks on Muslims by Christian militia in the south of the country which have caused tens of thousands of people to flee.
The "anti-balaka" Christian militia took up arms last year in response to months of looting and killing by Seleka fighters after they toppled President Francois Bozize and seized power in March 2013.
Thousands have been killed and more than one million people displaced by the violence. The United Nations took over an African Union peacekeeping mission last week and plans to roughly double the force to around 12,000 troops.
Seleka's military commander General Joseph Zoundeko has convened a general assembly for next week to choose a new political leadership for the group. Its former leader Michel Djotodia remains in exile in Benin after resigning as president under international pressure in January.
In a sign of the internal strife shaking Seleka, forces loyal to Zoundeko clashed with Daras' fighters in Bambari last month, leaving dozens dead.
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