CAR Coup Leader Held At Entebbe

By Vision Reporters THE leader of the failed coup in the Central African Republic (CAR) and former military ruler, General Andre Kolingba, has been arrested by rebels of Jean Pierre Bemba, according to a Kinshasa paper. Kampala sources said yesterday Kolingba was flown from Gbadolite in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Entebbe Airport this week. He is being held in Entebbe or Kampala, the sources said. According to the L'veil newspaper of June 19, 2001, the decision by Bemba to send troops alongside Libyan soldiers to back embattled CAR president Ange-Felix Patasse was to secure a rear base following Uganda's decision to unilaterally withdraw her troops from northwestern Congo. Between 150 and 200 MLC rebels crossed the Oubangui river to back Patasse. The paper said the Bemba-Patasse alliance was of convenience having realised that his position had become more precarious. "Ayant compris le danger, Bemba a neanmois accepte' de ptote'ger, a' Gbadolite, Andre' Kolingba don't la te'te est mise a' prix (250 millions CFA) par Patasse," (Having sensed the danger, Bemba has nonetheless agreed to protect in Gbadolite, Gen. Adre Kolingba, on whose head a bounty of 250m CFA (US $ 32,000) has been placed, the paper said. It said Bemba's main financier, Seti Yale, an ex-chief security boss under Mobutu, was irked by the intervention and has threatened to cut aid to MLC. The intervention has also reportedly caused a split in the MLC ranks. Sources in Kampala further said when Gen. Kolingba's militias were defeated, he fled to Bemba-controlled territory and was kept under tight security. The sources said to avoid suspicion, Kolingba was transferred from Gbadolite to Bumba, some 300km away and returned early this week to Gbadolite where he was flown to Entebbe. But other sources said Kolingba was heading for France, a country Patasse last week accused of having been behind the Bangui coup attempt. Kolingba ruled the CAR from 1981 until the 1993 elections which Patasse won. His accomplices include Rwandan Hutu generals and hundreds of mercenaries. Patasse has asked the UN and the EU to help investigate why a French shipment of weapons ended up at the home of Kolingba. Ends