 Only Madrid and a few other strongholds remained for the Republican forces.On 5 March 1939 the Republican army, led by the Colonel Segismundo Casado and the politician Julián Besteiro, rose against the prime minister Juan Negrín and formed the National Defence Council "(Consejo Nacional de Defensa" or "CND)" to negotiate a peace deal.Negrín fled to France on 6 March, but the Communist troops around Madrid rose against the junta, starting a brief civil war within the civil war.