BANGUI, 24 February (IRIN) - Security
agents in the Central African Republic (CAR) arrested on Friday Socrate
Bozize, the son of former army chief of staff turned rebel leader Francois
Bozize. The younger Bozize is being held at the national intelligence office
in the capital, Bangui.
His maternal uncle, Macaire Ngbele,
told IRIN on Saturday that six members of the Presidential Special Battalion
made the arrest. Protesting this, hundreds of people in the Bangui suburb
of Lakouanga erected barricades across the main avenue and burnt car tyres.
Security forces later restored calm. There were no casualties reported.
The arrest was made a day after Minister of State Gabriel Koyambounou urged the country's judicial commission investigating the 25 October 2002 coup attempt to extend its work to cover the entire nation. It is as yet unclear whether the arrest was a consequence of Koyambounou's order.
"It is a judicial matter," Dominique Panguindji, the prosecutor of Bangui's Tribunal of First Instance, told IRIN on 22 February.
[ENDS]
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