Official radio in Congo warned Sunday of troubling signs of a return to war in central Congo where rebels still hold sway despite ceasefire accords signed a year ago.
Radio Congo said security forces were unable to control a majority of villages in Niari, a stronghold of ousted president Pascal Lissouba.
"Out of 14 cities in Niari, 11 are beyond public control. This situation is creating a stray impulse for a return to war," the radio said.
But the official broadcast stopped short of saying whether the region was under control of a militia supporting Lissouba.
The radio said the Forces of Self-Defense of the Resistance (FADR), a main rebel movement, had installed their headquarters in Mossendjo in the region.
Niari was wracked by violent clashes in 1998 and 1999 between government troops and armed factions loyal to Lissouba and former prime minister Bernard Kolelas.
In December 1999, the government of President Denis Sassou Nguesso signed a series of accords with the factions, and so far the ceasefire has held.
Over the last 40 years, Congo has been ripped apart by ethnic warfare and suffered through nearly a dozen coups.
Six presidents have been toppled: Fulbert Youlou in 1963, Alphonse Massamba Debat in 1968, Marien Ngouabi in 1977, Joachim Yombi Opango in 1979, Nguesso in 1992 and Lissouba in 1997 -- BRAZZAVILLE (AFP)
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