Over 8,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR), have fled into Chad. The cause was fighting in the northern CAR, where government troops have been fighting armed men for the last two weeks. It's believed the gunmen belong to groups who oppose the recent election of former general Francois Bozize as the president of the CAR. The May 8 election was not ratified by the Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic until June 7th. Bozize, then head of the armed forces,  took control of the government in March 2003 while the elected  president (Ange-Felix Patasse) was out of the country. Supporters of Patasse and Bozize have been fighting each other ever since. There are already 30,000 CAR refugees in Chad from the 2002-3 fighting. Bozize hired mercenaries to help support his cause, and many of these guys (some from Chad, some from CAR) have turned to banditry. These fellows may account for some of the unrest in northern CAR as well.