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Rebels Push Into Capital in Central African Republic Witnesses Deny Rebel Gains in Central African Republic
(about 5 hours later)
BANGUI, Central African Republic (Reuters) — Rebels in the Central African Republic clashed with government forces inside the capital on Saturday, and a spokesman for the rebels said their columns were pushing toward the presidential palace. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — There were conflicting reports on Saturday about a rebel advance on the capital of the Central African Republic, with some saying the rebels had entered the city, but with witnesses in the capital and the president’s spokesman denying it.
The rebel coalition, known as Seleka, resumed hostilities last week, vowing to topple President François Bozizé, whom it accuses of breaking a January peace agreement to integrate the rebel fighters into the army. Residents in the capital, Bangui, were left in darkness after the electricity was cut off by rebels at a generating station to the north. Fearing the threat of combat, residents stayed in their homes. But the streets were said to be empty, and witnesses said there was no fighting.
The rebels said their fighters in the northern suburbs of the capital, Bangui, had driven back government forces and taken control of the neighborhood around Mr. Bozizé’s private residence. Officials have said that Mr. Bozizé was in the presidential palace in the city’s center. For months members of a loose coalition of rebel groups known as Seleka, unhappy with the country’s president — who seized power in a 2003 coup and was subsequently elected in questionable votes — have been fitfully advancing toward Bangui.
A spokesman for the rebel group, Nelson Ndjadder, said Saturday that the rebel fighters had shot down a government military helicopter that had been attacking their fighters since Friday. Last week, citing numerous grievances, including what they said was the failure of the president, François Bozizé, to stick to a January peace deal and integrate some of their men into the army, the rebels advanced again. The rebels’ spokesman, based in Paris, insisted that rebel fighters had entered the capital on Saturday afternoon.
“Our two columns are now heading for the presidential palace,” Mr. Ndjadder said. But witnesses in Bangui said the rebels were at least 60 miles away. Outside the capital the rebels clashed with government troops and South African forces, which had been helping train the country’s army, in the towns of Damara and Boali. Mr. Bozizé was still in the capital, his spokesman said, and had made a public appearance with South African forces on Saturday.
A senior official with a regional peacekeeping force, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that the rebels were pushing back government troops inside Bangui and had shot down the attack helicopter. The president’s spokesman, Gaston Mackouzangda, aroused from sleep on Saturday night in the capital, insisted that all was calm in Bangui.
“The rebels could take Bangui this evening,” he said Saturday, adding that regional peacekeepers would secure the airport. “The fighting is continuing but there is still some resistance.” “Bangui has not fallen,” Mr. Mackouzangda said. “There is no fighting. Measures have been taken to defend the capital.” He added that the rebel forces had been pushed back at Damara.
Seleka, a loose umbrella group of insurgents, fought its way to the gates of the capital late last year after accusing Mr. Bozizé of reneging on an earlier peace deal to give its fighters cash and jobs in exchange for laying down their arms. Mr. Bozizé’s presidential guard was still in place around the palace in Bangui on Saturday.
South Africa has sent about 400 soldiers to train Mr. Bozizé’s army, joining hundreds of peacekeepers from the region. Regional peacekeeping officials said the South Africans had fought alongside the Central African Republic’s army. “It is out of the question that power will fall into the hands of Seleka,” Mr. Mackouzangda said. He said that “Seleka has opted for war and the violation of democratic principles,” but that the president was still committed to the January peace deal.
State radio in the Central African Republic announced late on Friday that South Africa would send more troops. For his part, the rebel spokesman, Eric Massi, offered a completely different version of events, saying that “the operation is unfolding” in the capital and that the rebel forces had “encountered some resistance from the presidential guard.” But his claims were difficult to verify, and reports of actual fighting in the capital were scarce.
A former French colony, the Central African Republic is a desperately poor nation with a history of coups and rebellions. A French military spokesman, Col. Thierry Burkhard, said Saturday that France maintained a permanent deployment of 250 troops at the Bangui airport, which the French said was secure.

Christian Panika contributed reporting from Bangui, Central African Republic, and Scott Sayare from Paris.