Bangui- The French humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is trying to send a medical team to a town in north-east Central African Republic occupied by rebels opposed to President Francois Bozize, MSF said on Monday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also offered to respond to any humanitarian needs in and around the town of Birao which was captured by the rebels a week ago.
Leaders of the rebel group occupying Birao, more than 800km north-east of Bangui, have demanded that Bozize's government agree to talks on power sharing in the former French colony, one of the world's poorest countries.
They have vowed to hold the town against any government attempt to recapture it, but have said they will allow humanitarian organisations to visit the remote and rugged north-east Vakaga prefecture to assess the population's needs.
Isabelle Defourny, MSF's joint programme director, told Reuters by telephone from Paris that an MSF team was in Bangui trying to arrange a humanitarian mission to the north-east.
"The aim is to evaluate the medical needs of the population," Defourny said. Besides doctors and nurses, the MSF team for Birao would include logistics experts.
Rebel leaders have said the town's civilian population needs medical help, but has enough food.
Defourny said a mission would require the cooperation of both the rebels holding Birao and the Central African Republic's government, which has accused neighbouring Sudan of arming and directing the occupiers of the town. Khartoum has denied this.
The ICRC was also ready to help with a humanitarian mission, its representative in Bangui, Loukas Petridis, told Reuters. "The ICRC has advised the authorities that it is available to address any humanitarian needs in Birao," Petridis said.
Bozize's spokesperson Cyriaque Gonda said the government had not yet received a formal request to authorise a humanitarian mission to Birao, but would consider it if it did.