The rebel leader of the Central Africa Republic who led an insurgency to oust President Francois Bozize, Michel Djotodia has declared himself president and announced a caretaker government in which he controls several ministries.

Local reporters say Michel Djotodia was greeted by hundreds of supporters in the capital, Bangui, on Saturday on his first public appearance since the successful coup d’état.

Ousted President Francois Bozize initially went to Cameroon before finally seeking asylum in Benin where he will stay for now till the country return to civilian rule.

The opposition figure Nicolas Tiangaye who became prime minister under power-sharing accords signed in January was to remain in the post the military government added.

Another eight members of the former opposition would also be in the 34-member cabinet, local reporters also added.

Mr. Djotodia, the self-proclaimed president, would act as defence minister while several members of his Seleka rebel coalition would run other ministries.

At a rally on Saturday, the military leader addressed supporters as his supporters paraded through the capital, firing into the air amid jubilations.

“I hope to be the last rebel chief president of Central Africa,” he said in a speech in front of a large crowd in the capital.

The rebels over-ran the capital Bangui last weekend, in a move condemned by the African Union. The African Union has urged its members to cut ties with the military government and suspended the government from the union.

The Red Cross said on Friday that 78 bodies had been found. Thirteen South African soldiers lost their lives. They had been part of a 200-strong force fighting an estimated 3,000 rebels in the battle for Bangui.

South African newspapers reported on Sunday that some of the rebels whom the soldiers had been fighting were teenagers but this was not confirmed by any reporter in the Central Africa Republic.

“It was only after the firing had stopped that we saw we had killed kids,” one paratrooper told South Africa’s Sunday Times.

The rebels had joined a power-sharing government in January after talks brokered by regional leaders to end a rebellion they launched last year.

But the deal quickly collapsed, with the rebels saying their demands, including the release of political prisoners, had not been met. has a population of about 4.5 million, has been hit by a series of rebellions since independence from France in 1960.

The country has a population of about 4.5 million has been hit by a series of rebellions since independence from France in 1960.

The country has large deposits of minerals including gold and diamonds but decades of conflict and mismanagement have left its people among the world’s poorest.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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