Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 21:13:15 GMT
Sender: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: Paris helps crush revolt in Africa

Paris helps crush revolt in Africa

26 April 1996

French troops, joined by government forces, put down a revolt involving 400 soldiers of the Central African Republic. The soldiers, who were demanding back pay, seized the radio station and main fuel depot April 19 in the capital, Bangui. The rebellion broke out April 18 after teachers and other civil service workers went on strike earlier in the week over the same issue. Low-ranking army officers said they hadn't been paid in four months.

According to news reports, Ange-Felix Patasse, president of the Central African Republic, took refuge in a French military barracks near his palace. Paris has 1,300 troops in that country, which won independence from France in 1965. The Associated Press noted April 20 that this "was the latest in a series of French interventions in former African colonies."