AFP, Libreville, 13 mars 2002 - 19h07 - Un village du nord de la Centrafrique a été entièrement détruit il y a environ une semaine par un groupe de cavaliers Tchadiens armés, a-t-on appris mercredi auprès d'une source officielle centrafricaine jointe au téléphone depuis Libreville.

Ces cavaliers armés de Kalachnikov et "arborant le drapeau tchadien ont brûlé 156 maisons du village de Mgbada", situé à une vingtaine de kilomètres de la frontière tchadienne, et "provoqué la fuite d'environ un millier d'habitants", a ajouté cette source sous couvert d'anonymat.

Il n'a pas été précisé si cette attaque avait fait ou non des victimes.

Plusieurs exactions de ce genre ont déjà eu lieu courant 2001 dans des localités de l'extrême nord de la Centrafrique, frontalier avec le Tchad, selon cette source.

"Il semble s'agir d'expéditions punitives de populations tchadiennes visant des coupeurs de route tchadiens installés en Centrafrique", a-t-on précisé.

"Ces commandos armés venus du Tchad se renseignent en chemin sur la localisation de villages bien précis. Sur place, ils ligotent les villageois, brûlent leurs maisons après les avoir pillées et terrorisent les populations, a déclaré cette source.

L'attaque du village de Mgbada intervient dans un contexte tendu à la frontière tchado-centrafricaine, qui envenime les relations entre les deux pays, depuis la fuite dans le sud du Tchad, début novembre 2001, de l'ancien chef d'état-major centrafricain, le général François Bozizé.

Début mars, le gouvernement tchadien a notamment rendu "responsables les autorités centrafricaines" de la mort de 11 de ses ressortissants tués par balle à la mi-février en territoire centrafricain.

La région frontalière entre les deux pays est réputée pour abriter de nombreux de "coupeurs de route", des bandits de grands chemins, parfois d'anciens rebelles ou militaires, qui rançonnent les voyageurs et se livrent à des exactions.

A ce phénomène, s'ajoutent de traditionnels et parfois violents conflits entre des éleveurs nomades tchadiens et des agriculteurs centrafricains, qui se plaignent des dégâts causés par les troupeaux dans leurs plantations.

Villagers flee lawless Central African frontier
By Lucy Jones

Reuters, Bangui, 2002 March 13  - Thousands of people living in the north of Central African Republic have fled their homes after rebel soldiers and cattle thieves from neighbouring Chad ransacked their villages,
according to government officials.

Relations between the two impoverished neighbours have been strained ever since rebels from Central Africa loyal to sacked General Francois
Bozize fled to Chad, chased from the country by Libyan-backed government forces.

"Cattle raiders from Chad, armed with machineguns and rocket launchers, are entering villages shooting in the air. They have looted homes, stolen livestock and burnt houses," Emmanuel Djada, head of a government
mission to the region, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Officials said at least 10 people were thought to have been killed in the raids.

The Arabic-speaking cattle raiders, known as the Zaraguina, have plundered the area in the past and are thought to be taking advantage of
the currently unsecured frontier some 450 km (280 miles) north of the capital Bangui.

Reports that soldiers from Chad are operating with Bozize's loyalists in Central Africa, coupled with Libyan plans to send observers to the lawless frontier despite Chad's opposition, are likely to increase
tension between the two nations.

The Central Africa government delegation found that 2,646 civilians had fled recently to the northern town of Kabo, joining more than 3,000 others already displaced by looting.

"The people of (northern town) Sido have seen their houses, granaries and farms destroyed -- they are now living in terrible conditions. Many people have fled to the bush fearing further sackings," said a UNICEF representative in the capital Bangui.

Civilians started leaving frontier settlements in November after heavy fighting between government troops and supporters of Bozize, who was dismissed after refusing to appear before a commission into a coup attempt last May.

Government sources estimate 100 well-armed supporters of Bozize, who is holed up in the southern Chadian village of Sahr, are at large in the frontier area. Unpaid, and with no food supplies, they are regularly looting villages, the sources say.

Djada said soldiers from Chad had also crossed the border. "Along the 41 km (26 mile) stretch of road from Kabo to the frontier there are four roadblocks controlled by Chadian soldiers and Bozize supporters."

Amid the border raids, the two countries carry on trading accusations. Chad says citizens captured in Central Africa by government forces have been tortured and it refuses to hand over Bozize, even though he has been pardoned by Central Africa.

Central Africa denies the torture charges, saying it has only arrested some cattle raiders and taken them to Bangui.