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Reuters
Hundreds protest in front of the French Embassy in the Bangui, Central African Republic, on Wednesday, expressing anger over the lack of response by the former colonial power to rebels advancing on the capital.
U.S. diplomats and other American citizens have been evacuated from the Central African Republic and U.S. embassy operations have been suspended in the capital, Bangui, the State Department said Thursday. The move came as rebel forces advanced on the city.
"This decision is solely due to concerns about the security of our personnel and has no relation to our continuing and long-standing diplomatic relations with the (Central African Republic)," said State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell.
Insurgents on motorbikes and in pickup trucks have driven to within 45 miles of Bangui after weeks of fighting, threatening to end President Francois Bozize's nearly 10-year rule over the turbulent, resource-rich country.
Bozize appealed to the United States and France to help push back the rebels.
Some U.S. Special Forces are operating in the country, trying to track down the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group responsible for killing thousands of civilians across four African nations. There was no indication that these forces would be used to aid Bozize against the advancing insurgents.
Earlier a senior defense official told NBC News that there were "several hundred" civilians, including Americans and citizens of close U.S. allies who may be evacuated, but comments by the State Department's Ventrell suggested fewer had left:
"Ambassador (Laurence) Wohlers and his diplomatic team left Bangui today along with several private U.S. citizens," according to Ventrell.
The non-combatant evacuation operation transported "U.S. citizens and designated foreign nationals to safe havens in the region," according to a statement from Defense Department spokesman Todd Breasseale. The flight out of Bangui was "wheels up" at about 7:15 p.m. ET.
Paris said its troops would protect French nationals, but not be involved in repelling the rebels.
Some 1,200 French nationals live in the CAR, mostly in the capital, according to the French Foreign Ministry, where they typically work for mining firms or aid groups.
French nuclear energy group Areva mines the Bakouma uranium deposit in the CAR's south — France's biggest commercial interest in its former colony.
Bozize on Thursday appealed for French and U.S. military support to stop the SELEKA rebel coalition, which has promised to overthrow him unless he implements a previous peace deal in full.
France: 'Those days are over'
He told a crowd of anti-rebel protesters in the riverside capital that he had asked Paris and Washington to help move the rebels away from the capital to clear the way for peace talks which regional leaders say could be held soon in Libreville, Gabon.
"We are asking our cousins the French and the United States, which are major powers, to help us push back the rebels to their initial positions in a way that will permit talks in Libreville to resolve this crisis," Bozize said.
Georges Gobet / AFP - Getty Images file
Central African Republic President Francois Bozize in 2008.
France has 250 soldiers in its landlocked former colony as part of a peacekeeping mission and Paris in the past has ousted or propped up governments — including by using air strikes to defend Bozize against rebels in 2006.
But French President Francois Hollande poured cold water on the latest request for help.
"If we have a presence, it's not to protect a regime, it's to protect our nationals and our interests and in no way to intervene in the internal business of a country, in this case the Central African Republic," Hollande said on the sidelines of a visit to a wholesale food market outside Paris.
"Those days are over," he said.
France is increasingly reluctant to directly intervene in conflicts in its former colonies. Since coming to power in May, Hollande has promised to put ties with its former colonies on a healthier footing.
The rebel advance has highlighted the instability of a country that has remained poor since independence from Paris in 1960 despite rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds. Average income is barely over $2 a day.
Regional African leaders, meantime, tried to broker a ceasefire deal and rebels said they had temporarily halted their advance on Bangui to allow talks to take place.
Officials from around central Africa were to meet in Bangui later on Thursday to open initial talks with the government and rebels.
A rebel spokesman said fighters had temporarily halted their advance to allow dialogue.
"We will not enter Bangui," Col. Djouma Narkoyo, the rebel spokesman, told Reuters by telephone.
Previous rebel promises to stop advancing have been broken, and a diplomatic source said rebels had taken up positions around Bangui on Thursday, effectively surrounding it.
The atmosphere remained tense in Bangui the day after anti-rebel protests broke out, and residents were stocking up on food and water.
Government soldiers deployed at strategic sites and French troops reinforced security at the French embassy after protesters threw rocks at the building on Wednesday.
Bozize came to power in a 2003 rebellion that overthrew President Ange-Felix Patasse.
The government holds little sway outside the capital, and in some parts of the country, the consequences of conflicts in troubled neighbors Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have spilled over.
This report includes reporting by Reuters and NBC News' Courtney Kube.
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Leave a Comment:
So Paris will only protect French Nationals, some ally they are. How many times have we bailed them out?
In 2006, most Americans that were evacuated from Lebanon were pulled out by the French. If you were one of the few evacuated by the US, the US sent you a bill to cover the expenses of the evacuation.
That's good to know, French Special Forces also rescued American captives from Somalia once too. But they are stating before anything happens that they wont aid American citizens. I will once again sarcastically say, some ally they are. And I would like to see some solid and credible information about the U.S. charging U.S. citizens in that instance. It's a pretty heavy claim, and I'm not saying I don't believe you, but it's best to verify before I add it to my knowledge bank. Do you have any sources you can direct me towards?
Found the info, Bush and Congress passed a bill in 2003 that entailed billing Americans evacuated in areas they have Travel Warnings in place. From what I found, most of the politicians who passed the bill weren't aware of that part of it, and that while the bills were sent out, they were cancelled and nobody was made to pay.
I think you are misinterpreting the French president's statement. I believe what Hollande is stating is simply that the troops will not be protecting members of Bozize's regime. I don't read anywhere that he is refusing to assist with an American evacuation. I do not even see anything about him being asked. What he was asked about, was whether or not he would be willing to assist Bozize keep his government. He said no.
I was referring to the following statement, not anything that the President said.
As far as I know, Americans aren't French nationals.
What abojut the Embassy(ies) ? Where is the Department of State's comments ?
Oh, that is right......Secretary Clinton is MIA.
DO NOT expect her to testify concerning Benghazi.....her remarks will leave a permanent dent in her resume when she EXPECTS to run in 2016.
To..Ido..""
No...
Hey Ido, it wasn't an embassy in Benghazi. If you are so upset and outraged about what happened there, at least familiarize yourself with the facts surrounding what happened.
PS. 3 Private contractors and 1 ambassador died in Benghazi. 550 private contractors died for a lie in Iraq, where's that outrage or do only ambassadors matter?
well Africa will leave and send all your relatives back home as well , they don't like living here, so maybe they can see how they like out running some lions for awhile and maybe think that the USA isn't so bad to live after all !
Go fish.
Has anyone done some back checking to make sure the rebel group isn't an off-shoot of or an ally of Al Qaida?
Why should the french go to war with these rebels? They are the OUSTED colonial power. If they wanted French rule, they would have kept them as their government, but they didnt. Now they want the french to act?? Its laughable.
riverboy21: You are very wrong about French troops not protecting Americans. If needed, French troops will step up and protect Americans and they are good about doing that.
GRR5, In my post I mentioned 2 times they have helped Americans, but the article quotes Paris saying they wont help Americans this time. I'm not wrong, I'm referring to a quote in the article, you should try reading it before commenting.
The quote was "Paris said its troops were only ready to protect French nationals." You can see it in my earlier comment, but the article has been updated to remove it since. That's what my post was about.
The Bureaucrats running the country are probably stealing all the money. The result is there is none left to pay an army and so they want us to bail out their sorry butts. Tough luck Bozo.
Disgusting for a country to have such wealthy resources yet they can only protect the capital and their people are so utterly poor.If this guy wants help,France and the U.S. should help oust him out of the country.
No europeans or americans should die for the freedom of these people. They should be rallying themselves for a defense instead of complaining to europeans to save them.
Because this area of Africa has such wealthy resources, the multinational corporations who mine it use the profits only to enrich themselves and to grease the palms of corrupt politicians. The citizens of this region are uneducated, work for poverty wages, and are never allowed to share in the wealth.
Hmmmm... sounds like another country I know, ummm give me a minute.....
Get the hell out ! Why are you there ? Are you waiting for a Benghazi replay? Yet another hopeless third world country to terrify and run off the U.S. Just hang in there a little longer, your martyrdom will come soon !
""""remained poor since independence from Paris in 1960 despite rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds. Average income is barely over $2 a day."""
What is wrong with this picture....somebody's making money and like everywhere else it ain't the people of that country
Warlords and China get the money. Chinese mining operations are illegally entering Africa and poaching massive amounts of land for their resources. They come prepared and armed, mine whenever they want without purchasing the land, and they have the local tribal leaders and most Warlords outgunned. It's part of the strategy they publicly acknowledge, gather resources from around the world and leave China's alone. It's like a rainy day fund for them, China's land is super rich with these same resources.
To..riverboy"""
Oh it's the Chinese ...so their the new Colonialists now
I wouldn't go that far to call the Colonialists, and I'm not that crazy America-can-do-no-wrong guy blaming China like you may think I am. There are several documentaries on the subject, most recent I can think of would be called "When China Met Africa" that is pretty interesting to watch because it follows around the Chinese mining and farming operations instead of just showing the victims' point of view.
To.riverboy"""
No ..I don't think that of you ...but it seems every powerful nation has raped other lands of resources with the same results on the populations of those countries throughout history
Yep that is true, even the weaker nations do it when they have the opportunity.
I like that when any country but the U.S. does something immoral and someone tries to criticize them, people like Amunaka always say something like "well the U.S. did this 300 years ago". What does that prove? In all of history one group has tried to take advantage of another group. It does not make it right.
It is just good business to not oppose either side. That way you come back in, get new puppets and it is business as usual. All countries have corporate military policies to ensure that assets and resources are protected, and rebuilt if needed by governments of nations involved. Kind of like how the US is paying to rebuild Oil wells and infrastructure destroyed. The French, British, Chinese, and American corporations are participants but the Americans are the only ones where the government does not benefit, only payout.
I read this article because I thought it was about Chicago...but no...it's an African Country ran by Africans killing Africans with a limit of 2 bucks a day...I don't know if that's how much they get paid or if that's the daily limit they can each kill...
What is it with Africans that have their own country and can't run it without murdering each other...and then they want to sucker the US into joining the party...just what we need to set off the Africans in the US screaming prejudice and demanding more preferential treatment...if the US is going to help let's send some of their people from the US back to Africa to help them...
Dee Ten, you are a idiot! The problem is other countries for years have been raping Africa for its resources!! IE, Diamonds, Gold, and Uranium!! Elephant and Rhino tusks!! And other animals for their zoos!! Coffee beans and etcccc....
The -
Oh. I see why the Africans are killing each other...it's that age old greed thing again...and again...and again...
It's still safer than South Chicago, Philadelphia or Atlanta.
Really? What are the violence percentages? How do they compare?
Or are you just talking out of your ass?
Have you been to the Central African Republic?
The number of homicides in the City of Atlanta dropped 24% in 2009. You have to go back 48-years to 1961 to see numbers as low as they were in 2009. There were also only 80-homicides in 2010...
Philadelphia has the highest homicide rate of the nation’s 10 most populous cities in 2011, 324. With a population of 1.52+million, gives you a rate of about 21 per 100,000 population...
Chicago's gun related deaths is OVER 400, and its total homicides are over 500 for 2012. With a decreasing population of around 2.70+million, gives you a rate of OVER 19 per 100,000 population...
Haiti had a reported 6.3 homicide rate per 100,000 during 2010, reported by the UN. Though this number is being questioned, as their neighboring countries are 3x HIGHER. The bulk of recent homicides in Haiti's capital are tied to gang warfare, a United Nations official visiting the Caribbean nation said Sept 2012. An average of 99 murders per month, with a 3+million population, gives a rate of over 40 per 100,000 in Port-au-Prince. This is still lower than that of some other Caribbean cities...
Are there any healthy countries in Africa? Something about Africa that stable, good government seems to not last very long if ever. When every politician is out for himself or his own little tribe we see the consequence. I wonder if we are seeing something like that here where we have politicians who just represent their own little group instead of the whole.
Their society is based on tribal relations with little concept of a nation state. With literacy only around 50% at best, they don't have the social structure to support a 21st century culture. They are a primitive people with modern problems and no concept on how to solve them. If we equipped medieval Europe with machine guns, they would have degenerated into the same situation.
Nicely put Rich.
If "those days are over," why is France helping rebels topple the government in Syria?
A 'frog' will say most anything that comes to mind...but a 'liberal frog' would croak if it ever told the truth...
You must be from Vietnam.
To Dee""""
Funny truth is a liberal concept and bias...you know conservatives will have nothing to with anything liberal
No it speaks volumes about the former oppressor(France), it cares little about the outside world and only intervenes in the name of some glorified value like "democracy" when its corporate interests are at stake.
Please, I doubt the French oppressed them more than they oppress themselves.
Am I the ONLY one that bothered to look???? I believe this rebel group is led by the notorious Kony. Why is this not in the story and why isn't it part of this discussion.
Because public opinion is often made after a thorough massage of source info, including lack of info, too much info, repetition, omission of key aspects, exaggeration of secondary aspects, just to name a few that come through my mind.
Goebbels did a fantastic job for the Nazis by understanding so well how to inform the German masses and drive them to do what Hitler wanted them to do. Bush post 9/11 was pretty good too. They all ( including Obama and Bohner) do it. The difference is what are the ones in power's objective. Is it hatred or love that drives them. Perception is everything , as soon it crystallizes into a belief.
I for one appreciate that the French are not getting involved with internal affairs of a country. Our interaction between countries should be for commercial reasons and for positive reasons in any other field. Manipulating foreign countries' politics is a sure way to offset their balancing mechanisms with sooner or later devastating results. And then the West is blamed for it as well. It seems that anyhow whatever we do we get blamed. Might as well do nothing.
If China wants to deal with these folks, let them. Let them get bogged down in this 3rd world hole.
China is busy paying for access to the African, South/Central America, Canada, etc., natural resources. They will deal with the existing people in power and do what-ever is necessary to develop these resources. Just like the prior Super-Powers. Though later nationalization of these assets will probably not go over as well...
China's new Leader came to prominence due to his VERY HARSH handling of the Tibetans. This strong approach is already being shown by China's actions in the South China Sea and the bullying of the ASEAN nations... see http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/328523/2012-when-asean-felt-beijing-s-bite
China is busy paying for access to the African, South/Central America, Canada, etc., natural resources. They will deal with the existing people in power and do what-ever is necessary to develop these resources. Just like the prior Super-Powers. Though later nationalization of these assets will probably not go over as well...
China's new Leader came to prominence due to his VERY HARSH handling of the Tibetans. This strong approach is already being shown by China's actions in the South China Sea and the bullying of the ASEAN nations... see http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/328523/2012-when-asean-felt-beijing-s-bite
wondering aloud if a spot check was done on the origin of the weapons used by the rebels....US, FSU or China?
You're asking too many questions.
The US should send Obama to be their President.
Another issue is that Chirac and Sarkozy were right wing Presidents of France when Bozo was in power. Now Hollande and Obama are on the left, they have different values and they didn't cut a deal with Bozo.
If were LUCKY Africa will get their @!$%# together by the END of the century.
Africa needs strong leaders who are able to consolidate power. I know that is not in the interests of third parties or can it be accomplished peacefully. However, for Africa to advance like some African nations have they will have to subject themselves to colonial rule, preferably by Africans. I do not believe all Africans are illiterate, common sense is not learned in books anyway.
My many African fellows asked me how we can watch free streaming of African TV channels in USA and all Europe for free?? So, i searched for this and found the best solution for this. Actually i found a web site where all the things of there interest are available like news, sports, songs, culture, and many more about Africa.
Here is the website.
If you have any other site related this then please tell me about that.
My many African fellows asked me how we can watch free streaming of African TV channels in USA and all Europe for free?? So, i searched for this and found the best solution for this. Actually i found a web site where all the things of there interest are available like news, sports, songs, culture, and many more about Africa.
Here is the website.
www.iafrica.tv
If you have any other site related this then please tell me about that.
Get out and stay out.
These warring tribes are going to kill each other just like they did last time. Something that the rest of the world just ignores that Both tribes are black and both hate each other and kill each other. No other race has anything to do with it.
Nothing we do or anyone does will change that until the old are all killed off, the old beliefs are history and the young come to the conclusion that they are no different from each other.
If I understand this article correctly, the French government was thrown out by Africans in 1960. Since then they have been even more poor and unstable than when the French had control. Now they want the US and French government to save them. Hmmm whats wrong with this picture?
Kinda funny in a sad way. The African people are quick to through out there Euro decendant leaders but as soon as the crap hits the fan and they starve and war with them selves to the stone age again, they are quick to ask for help from Europe. This will sound bad but im really not being racist but Im starting to think that Africa can no be govern by an African.
Plumber, I wouldn't go quite that far, but it does seem like time for outsiders to step-off and let them sort out African problems among themselves. These are tribal beefs that go back centuries, and the UN saying "No, no, don't do that!" makes no difference. Of course, the entire continent is major market for the worlds weapons makers. Odd how countries who can't feed their people can afford new weapons and ammo, eh?,
Got oil, gold or diamonds to be exploited by big corporations? No? Too bad. Got funds to buy US-made guns and bombs? No? Best of luck with all that rebel stuff. Give a call if valuable resources are discovered and we'll destabilize the gov't again...