Group accuses CAR leader
2010-01-13 08:43
Libreville - President Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic is hampering progress towards peace and free elections due this year, the International Crisis Group said on Tuesday in a report.
The ICG warned that Bozize and his supporters were undermining efforts to end insurgency and bring peace to the deeply poor landlocked country by failing to follow through on agreements reached in a 2008 national dialogue.
"The president has balked at making changes that could weaken his control of the military and state resources," said Edward Dalby, a Crisis Group analyst.
"Because of this intransigence, a year that could have seen significant progress on the reform agenda has been marked by more intense political confrontation and continued violence."
The ICG said that the organisation of elections on the basis of a national consensus should be the priority of the first months of 2010. The government in Bangui has announced no date for the polls, but set up an independent electoral commission by presidential decree in August 2009.
Concrete set of agreements
The non-governmental organisation, based in Brussels, recommended that the elections be held in April, unless technical preparations and the security situation do not allow, in its report entitled, "Central African Republic: Keeping the Dialogue Alive".
The dialogue in question is the national one opened by the regime, which was welcomed by the ICG for its achievements and for bringing most of the nation's rebel groups to the negotiating table. But the report was critical of what had happened since.
"A concrete set of agreements that included rebel disarmament and security sector reform was a welcome step towards greater stability. However, the political process has since then stalled. Bozize has not allowed his adversaries to participate meaningfully in the government and resisted other governance reforms. Meanwhile, the delay in disarming rebel groups that have already signed peace agreements has allowed more armed groups to emerge."
The ICG urged Bozize to negotiate with the remaining rebel group as "the only feasible course of action", in the interest of security across the country, but the report also called on the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission and on international donors to help.
Credible elections
"Donors should make clear to the government that if it does not display clear commitment to credible elections, they will hold back the civil servant salaries that constitute one of Bozize's strongest sources of popularity in the capital," the ICG said.
Bangui has seen many strikes by civil servants because of salary arrears that in some cases amounted to several years of back pay. The government is dependent on international assistance to meet some of its budgetary obligations.
The ICG report noted that the talks in the capital would help determine what happened in the country's outlying districts.
"Until the government respects the method of consensus in which the dialogue was held and makes genuine changes in governance, insecurity will hamper any efforts to establish state authority in the provinces," said Daniela Kroslak, deputy director of the Crisis Group Africa Program.
"It must be made clear that the president's best interest is to allow his opponents greater involvement in state affairs and thereby reduce their temptation to take power by force."
- SAPA