Aid organisation evacuates foreigners from conflict-torn Central African Republic

The International Organization for Migration Saturday began to evacuate foreign nationals from the Central African Republic (CAR), as a power vacuum grew in the diamond-rich nation a day after the president resigned.Interim president Michel Djotodia – the country’s first Muslim leader – and prime minister Nicolas Tiangaye stepped down on Friday, bowing to pressure from regional leaders at a two-day summit in neighbouring Chad to debate the worsening sectarian conflict in CAR, dpa reported.The aid organization said it had received appeals from several African countries – including Chad, Niger, Mali, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – to airlift their most vulnerable, stranded nationals out.The IOM initially planned to repatriate 800 Chadians, who sought refuge at an emergency camp near the airport in capital Bangui, the group said in a statement.