Ex-minister , son killed in Central Africa unrest .
Raphael Kopessoua
BANGUI 1996-12-06
A former cabinet minister in Central African Republic and his son were abducted from their home and murdered in growing ethnic violence in the capital Bangui , a government minister said on Friday .
With violence spiralling out of control , France voiced backing for the elected Bangui government but said its troops based in the former colony under defence pacts would not help it combat army mutineers .
" France cannot be involved in the domestic political debate , " President Jacques Chirac told a news conference at the end of a Franco-African summit in Burkina Faso .
" French troops may only take part in maintaining order to avoid major abuses and protect foreign communities , " he said .
Public Service Minister David Dofara , who is the head of the national Red Cross , told Reuters he had seen the bodies of former interior minister Christophe Grelombe and his son , who was not named .
Witnesses said they had been seized by troops loyal to President Ange-Felix Patasse at dawn on Thursday when they clashed with soldiers staging a mutiny since November 16 .
Grelombe is from the Yakoma tribe to which most of the rebel soldiers belong .
The uprising began over pay demands but has turned into a campaign to topple Patasse , sparking ethnic violence and dividing the capital .
The former minister and his son had been taken from their home close to the presidential palace , which is guarded by loyalist soldiers backed by French troops based in Bangui .
The bodies were found on Thursday in an open field about two km ( one mile ) further away , said Dofora and other witnesses .
The men were seized as loyalist forces and French troops fought gunbattles with mutineers who fired rockets into the city centre .
A French-owned hotel was slightly damaged .
Yakomas are hounded in stronghold districts of Patasse 's Baya people while other tribes have fled areas in rebel hands .
Roadblocks have been erected in city districts while central Bangui , which is patrolled by French troops with tanks , is deserted .
Shops and businesses have remained shut this week .
The Franco-African summit decided to send a mission Bangui to seek ways of containing the mutiny and a threat of civil war .
Chirac said Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore would visit Bangui " in the coming hours " with the heads of state of Gabon , Mali and Chad to try and establish dialogue between authorities and rebels .
The mutiny forced Patasse to miss the summit .
His spokesman had predicted the meeting to send an assessment mission .
Patasse , who won Central Africa 's first multi-party elections , refuses to resign .
Church-led meadiation attempts hit deadlock over rebel demands for his departure .
Soldiers staged mutinies in April and May , with French troops stepping in with tanks and helicopters to quell the more serious second uprising .
Patasse offered concessions and amnesty to rebels before the May rebellion ended after rebels looted the city centre .
Rebels accuse Patasse of tribalism and of arming his civilian supporters and hired guns from Sudan and Chad .
Mutineers have vowed to disarm all civilians and to chase out the foreign forces knwon as Codos .
Hospital sources and witnesses said about 10 people were known to have been killed in the more than two weeks of fighting , including two rebels killed in Thursday 's clashes .
An undetermined number of people are reported to have been abducted and killed outside the town by tribal vigilante groups .
In Thursday 's fighting , French troops fired back as mutineers trying to break out of their strongholds rained mortar shells on the city centre .