U.N. Calls Emergency Talks after Deadly Central Africa Coup

The U.N. Security Council will hold urgent talks Monday after a bloody coup in Central Africa sent ousted leader Francois Bozize fleeing across the border, and left 13 South African soldiers dead.

Diplomats in New York said the 15-nation council would meet to discuss the rapidfire assault in which rebels seized the capital Bangui on Sunday after the collapse of a two-month-old peace deal with Bozize's regime.

Amid growing international condemnation of the coup, which the European Union said was "unacceptable", the Security Council was set to call for a swift return to democracy.

"There is a new president, self-proclaimed in a totally unconstitutional way and the question we are all asking is how to come back to a constitutional situation, how to have elections as quickly as possible," France's U.N. ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters as he announced the meeting.

Left without electricity and no national radio, the riverside capital was on edge Monday as residents waited for a formal statement by rebel leader Michel Djotodia declaring himself president.

"We are awaiting a formal declaration to make Michel Djotodia's presidency official," rebel spokesman Eric Massi said in Paris.

Djotodia said earlier in an interview with French radio RFI that "three years from now, we are going to organize free and transparent elections with everybody's help."

His Seleka rebel coalition seized the capital after a lengthy gunbattle Sunday just days after resuming hostilities against Bozize's regime, which they accused of reneging on a January peace deal.

The deal had put an end to a month-long offensive which brought the rebels to the gates of Bangui, accusing government of failing to implement promises under previous peace accords, such as incorporating former fighters into the army.

Djotodia has pledged to uphold the unity government formed under the January pact, signed in Libreville, which includes several prominent figures from Seleka.

The former civil servant turned rebel leader said he may keep some ministers from Bozize's clan in his government, pledging: "We are not here to carry out a witch-hunt."

Bozize himself seized power in a 2003 coup in the chronically unstable country which has a history of coups and strongmen including the eccentric leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa who declared himself emperor in 1976 until his ouster three years later.

Yaounde announced Monday that Bozize had sought refuge in neighboring Cameroon and was "awaiting his departure to another host country".

Bozize, once the country's youngest general, had become unpopular as promises to rebuild the nation by harnessing its stores of oil, gold and uranium went unfulfilled.

The rebels were initially welcomed by residents waving palm leaves in celebration, but this later turned to anxiety as looters took to the streets.

The African Union swiftly suspended the Central African Republic, which is deeply impoverished, its rich mineral resources remaining mostly untapped since independence from France in 1960.

"The council has decided to suspend with immediate effect (the) Central African Republic from all African Union activities and to impose sanctions, travel restrictions and an asset freeze on Seleka's leaders," said AU peace and security chief Ramtane Lamamra.

Meanwhile, South Africa said 13 of its soldiers were killed and 27 wounded in the weekend fighting in Bangui -- the country's heaviest military loss since the end of the apartheid era.

President Jacob Zuma said the troops died in a nine-hour "high-tempo battle" against "bandits", adding that there were no immediate plans to withdraw troops deployed alongside the weak national army.

The U.S. State Department said Sunday it was "very concerned by the worsening humanitarian situation in CAR and credible, widespread reports of human rights abuses by both national security forces and Seleka fighters".

It also called for rebels to restore electric power and water supplies to the capital after sabotaging them over the weekend.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the seizure of power by Seleka -- a loose alliance of three rebel movements -- calling for "the swift restoration of constitutional order".

"Violent or unconstitutional changes of government remain unacceptable," added European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, urging all parties to immediately end hostilities.

Paris, which has sent an extra 300 soldiers to back up the 250 troops already there to protect its citizens in the country, called for rebels to abstain from violence against civilians.

French President Francois Hollande urged all sides to form a government in accordance with the January peace deal and asked "the armed groups to respect the population", thousands of whom have already fled Bangui.