Presidential, legislative polls in CAR to be postponed for three days, UN mission reports

The presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic(CAR) will be postponed for three days until Dec. 30 to address logistical issues and complete the training of electoral agents, a UN spokesman told reporters here.

The country's Electoral National Authority (ANE) made the announcement earlier Thursday, according to the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

The elections slated to take place in the Central African Republic (CAR) was originally scheduled for Sunday, reports said Thursday.

The polls are intended to restore law and order in African country after mainly Muslim rebels seized power in the majority Christian nation in early 2013, provoking reprisals from Christian militias that triggered a cycle of inter-religious killings.

"All presidential and legislative electoral ballots arrived in the country's capital, Bangui, yesterday and the Mission will proceed with a progressive delivery of the ballots to the provinces," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Meanwhile, the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration process in the country continues, he said.

In Kaga Bandoro, 35 weapons and more than 100 rounds of ammunition were voluntarily handed over by anti-Balaka and ex-Seleka.

In Bambari, cash for work activities for 38 anti-Balaka fighters were launched.

In Bouar, some 70 anti-Balaka handed over a number of weapons, marking the first time anti-Balaka have voluntarily handed over military equipment in that area.

The uptick in violence, which had been reduced when UN and African Union troops increased their presence in the country last year, prompted interim President Catherine Samba-Panza earlier in October to postpone general elections originally scheduled for Oct. 18.

The current crisis in CAR -- a mineral rich nation of 4.6 million people -- began when Seleka -- a rebel amalgamation of several different factions -- started moving toward the capital Bangui in March 2012, hoping to remove Francois Bozize, a military officer who seized power in 2003 and had been elected president twice since then.

The largely Muslim rebel group Seleka seized control of the Christian-majority country in the aftermath, and in some instances attacked and killed Christian civilians.

Early in January 2014, the country's National Assembly selected Catherine Samba-Panza to be the next president replacing Michel Djotodia -- a Muslim, and former Seleka commander -- who fled the capital Bangui to Benin in early 2014. Enditem