Sekleka rebels kidnap nine Cameroonians

Rebels from the Central African Republic have kidnapped nine Cameroonian nationals to press the Cameroonian government to release their leader, the newspaper Mutations reported on Monday.

The rebels threatened to stage more attacks in Cameroon if Abdoulaye Miskine was not released within 72 hours, according to the daily.

Miskine heads a breakaway faction of the Muslim rebel movement Seleka, whose fighting with Christian anti-Balaka militia groups has plunged the Central African Republic into chaos. He was captured in Cameroon in 2013.

The nine, who include a village chief, were abducted in Garoua-Boulai, near Cameroon's border with the Central African Republic, on Saturday.

In May, the same rebel group kidnapped 18 Cameroonians in the same area to press their demand for Miskine's release. Some of the captives were released following negotiations and others in an attack by Cameroonian security forces.

The Central African Republic has suffered sectarian violence since the Seleka movement overthrew president Francois Bozize, a Christian, in March 2013.

Miskine's faction initially joined forces with Seleka, but then broke ranks and was forced by its former allies to the north-east of the country.

Miskine fled to Cameroon, where he was arrested over fears he might use the country as a base to further destabilize the Central African Republic.