Since President Ange-Félix Patassé came to power in 1993, the Central African Republic has almost disintegrated. Another attempt to put it back together began on 26 February, at a conference chaired by Mali’s ex-President, General Amadou Toumani Touré. The General is struggling to implement the agreements signed at a Franco-African summit in January 1997, under which about 1,000 troops from Gabon, Burkina Faso, Togo, Chad, Mali and Senegal (with logistic support from France) were meant to disarm the CAR’s warring factions. This force, known as Misab (Mission International de Suivi des Accords de Bangui ) has disarmed about 85 per cent of the soldiers who mutinied against the Patassé regime three times in 1996. Most of these ex-mutineers and their spokesman Captain Anice Saulet are Yakoma from the Presidential Guard of Patassé’s Yakoma predecessor, ex-President André Kolingba." />
