N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Central African Republic on Wednesday accused neighbour Sudan of sending armed rebels across the border to occupy a northeastern town, as tensions from the conflict in Darfur rippled across the region.
The accusation by Central African Republic President Francois Bozize followed the occupation on Monday of Birao, more than 800 km (500 miles) northeast of Bangui, by armed raiders whom Central African officials said came from Darfur in Sudan.
Both Central African Republic and Chad say they are victims of the entangled political and ethnic conflict which has raged in western Sudan's Darfur region since 2003, sending refugees, rebels and cattle-stealing raiders spilling over their borders.
Although a coalition of anti-Bozize rebels, the UFDR, has claimed the capture of Birao and demanded the president negotiate power-sharing with them, Bozize did not mince words in blaming the raid directly on Sudan's government.
"In the last 48 hours, the Central African Republic has been attacked by the same country which has harmed Chad. Let's be clear: It is (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir and he must stop behaving like this," Bozize told reporters in Chad after overnight talks with President Idriss Deby.
Central African Republic, a landlocked former French colony and one of the world's poorest countries, has asked France and African allies for military and logistical assistance. France has troops and jet fighters stationed in Chad.
Bangui initially protested to Khartoum about the attack on Birao, demanding an explanation.
But Bozize went further on Wednesday, widening the debate over the Darfur conflict, which analysts say risks spreading instability across Central Africa unless the international community can secure peace there.
"This friendly brother country uses a lot of resources to arm people whom it sends into Central African territory without motives. We don't understand how Sudan can behave like this," Bozize said.
There was no immediate reaction from Khartoum, which routinely rejects charges from Chad and the Central African Republic that it backs rebels hostile to their governments.
Sudan's government is refusing to accept the deployment of a U.N.
peacekeeping force in Darfur, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in fighting that pits government forces and their allied militias against local rebels.
Humanitarian agencies say this U.N.
force is the best hope to restore peace and prevent the conflict from spreading.
Bozize said he and Deby had discussed "what needs to be done" about the occupation of Birao. "As this is military information, we can't communicate it via the press," he said.
The UFDR rebel group which says it is holding Birao, and whose name stands for the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity, said it was preparing for a government counterattack.
UFDR spokesman Capt. Abakar Sabone said they had received a report that 400 Chadian troops had been flown to Bangui.
"We're waiting to see what they do," he told Reuters by telephone.
He said UFDR fighters had disabled the airfield at Birao by laying tree trunks across the runway.
Central African Republic's remote north is a lawless area where armed raiders regularly loot villages and terrorise civilians, sending many fleeing into southern Chad.
Rebel spokesman Sabone says many of the UFDR fighters had previously fought with Bozize, who seized power in March 2003. He then held and won elections in 2005.
(c) Reuters 2006.
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