Ex-rebels gun down Central African judge: police

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - A Central African Republic magistrate and his assistant have been "cold-bloodedly" gunned down by former members of the Seleka rebel group, a para-military police official said Sunday.

"Magistrate Modeste Martineau Bria... and his aide-de-camp were cold-bloodedly killed on Saturday night" in central Bangui, the source said on condition of anonymity, adding: "Ex-Seleka members... sped up to them on a motorbike and opened fire."

The motive for the killing was not yet known.

The landlocked nation has been mired in chaos since Seleka ousted longtime president Francois Bozize in March.

Seleka leader Michel Djotodia named himself president but agreed to hold elections next year.

He officially dissolved the rebel movement but its members have continued to stage attacks and robberies. Armed gangs, mainly former Seleka loyalists, now dominate outside the capital Bangui.

The country has seen an increase in clashes between former rebels, who are Muslim, and local self-defence groups formed by rural residents who are Christian, in common with around 80 percent of the population.

African nations have deployed some 2,500 troops in the country in a force that is due to increase to 4,500, but diplomats and many officials say it cannot cope with the anarchy and that UN peacekeepers may be needed.

Activists such as celebrity campaigner Mia Farrow, who recently visited the country, have warned of genocide and refer to the country as a "failed state" whose people have been abandoned.

UNICEF has launched an appeal for $32 million (24 million euros) to fund aid in the Central African Republic, but has so far mustered only $12 million.