Central African Republic Army Accused

Rebel fighters pose for a picture in the bush near Ouandago, Central African Republic Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006. The army has burned scores of villages in northwest Central African Republic during a campaign to rout rebels active in the area for weeks, displaced villagers and aid groups said. (AP Photo/Joseph Benamsse) (Joseph Benamsse - AP)

KAGA-BANDORO, Central African Republic -- Scores of villages have been burned down in remote northwestern areas of Central African Republic during a government campaign to rout rebels, local officials and aid groups said.

An Associated Press reporter saw hundreds of burned huts in empty villages while accompanying a U.N. mission to the region this week, visiting dozens of damaged communities around the provincial capital of Kaga-Bandoro.

"Our village was burned down by the army, who accused people living here of collaborating with the rebels," said Jonas Andjeligaza, the deputy chief of Zoumbeti, about 30 miles south of Kaga-Bandoro. He said two elderly men were burned to death in their homes last week.

A man in another village, Ngoulekpa III, said huts there were burned down a few weeks earlier.

"Houses were set on fire after the army looted them, carrying away our food," 28-year-old Arnold Ngoumale said. He said uniformed soldiers took corn, groundnuts and cassava that villagers had stored from the harvest.

Government officials, who accused residents of sheltering rebels, have said some homes caught fire in crossfire between army and rebel fighters, but said they were not intentionally set ablaze.

"The rebels are living together with villagers who refuse to collaborate with the national army to restore order in the region," said Col. Jean Christophe Bureau, Kaga-Bandoro's top official.

Local Archbishop Albert Vambuel said more than 2,000 homes have been set on fire, displacing about 12,000 people around Kaga-Bandoro. Last week, the U.N.'s World Food Program said about 150,000 people had fled homes in the northwest because of fighting.

Central African Republic, an impoverished nation of 3.6 million people in the heart of Africa, has suffered decades of army revolts, coups and rebellions since it gained independence from France in 1960.

In a few villages, people emerged slowly from surrounding forests after an AP reporter appeared along with a U.N. vehicle. Many said they were afraid to return to their homes and had remained nearby because they heard an aid group was scheduled to deliver food.

Some villagers said they were now homeless, with only trees to shelter them.

Others said they were rebels. Dressed in worn T-shirts and sandals, they carried single-shot hunting rifles and a few AK47s. One 14-year-old in boots and a red beret held a rifle ready at his side.

Many fear the increasing violence in Central African Republic is result of instability in neighboring Chad and Sudan's Darfur region.

The northwestern rebels call themselves the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy and the Republic. Officials say they have been active in the area since last year but little is known about them.

The group has said it is fighting because President Francois Bozize has misruled the country and demanded he step down. Rebels in the northeast have issued similar complaints.