Central African Republic's minister for youth and sport was kidnapped on Sunday by gunmen in the capital, Bangui, and a second minister narrowly escaped capture in a town to the north, officials said. The seizure of Armel Ningatoloum Sayo follows the brief kidnapping earlier this week of a UN staff member and a French charity worker, highlighting insecurity in the country despite the presence of French and UN peace keepers.
Tatiana Yangeko, Sayo's spokeswoman, said the minister was driving his wife and his brother back from church when four unidentified gunmen in a taxi stopped their vehicle in Bangui's 8th arrondissement, in the north of the capital.
"They got out of the taxi, shot in the air and forced the minister out of his car. They fled with him towards Boy Rabe," Yangeko said, referring to a neighbourhood that is a stronghold of the 'anti-Balaka' militia.
"We have told the prime minister," she added.
Later, a government source told Reuters that Education Minister Eloi Anguimate was targeted in a separate kidnapping attempt in Kaga Bandoro, some 300 km (186 miles) north of Bangui on Sunday. Anguimate escaped but his driver, assistant and the mayor of the town were seized, the source said.
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