CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Mathurin C.N. Momet, RCA, 2 June 1999
THEME = POLITICS
Knowing that he has not kept his promises made to the electorate
in 1993,
President Patassé is delaying over the organisation of the presidential election,
and is looking for pretexts to push it back into some blurred date in the future.
The next presidential elections in the Central African Republic (RCA), scheduled for this August, are causing a real problem for the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) and for the financial backers of the electoral process. On the one hand, there is the ruling party and its allies who are using all kinds of fraudulent means to reconquer their power; on the other hand, the Union of Forces Supporting Peace And Development UFAP, a coalition of opposition political parties, are calling for free and open elections, within the time prescribed by the 14 January 1995 Constitution.
A short while after the publication of the official results of the 22 November/13 December 1998 parliamentary elections, Ange Patassé, leader of the Movement for the Freedom of the Central African People (MLPC), was very conscious he wasn't the "flavour of the month" with the general population. So what did he do? He shot off to Cameroon and Togo to see how Paul Biya (President of Cameroon) and Gnassingbe Eyadéma (President of Togo) managed similar situations, even to the extent of getting themselves re-elected. Moreover, he appointed his cousin Timothy Ndilné as ambassador to Cameroon where national identity cards were distributed extensively to those Chadian nationals who had established themselves there, so that they would vote en masse for the incumbent President. In the RCA itself, a complex network of prefects, sub-prefects and mayors was set up, all "for the good of the cause."
The Independent Electoral Commission (CEMI) and the National Democratic International Affairs (NDI) organised an in-depth evaluation of the electoral process. This revealed a number of deficiencies in the electoral code and stressed the necessity of involving all concerned with the electoral process (government, political parties and civil society), in the organisation, supervision and control of the elections with the aim of reducing cases of fraud. They also demanded a cutback in the number of the members of CEMI's co-ordinating commission so as to make it more operational.
The UN Security Council's Resolution 1230, had given MINURCA a mandate to restructurise the RCA's Armed Forces and to prepare and monitor the presidential elections. Oweyemi Adeniji, the UN's Special Representative then organised a meeting between the President's majority party and the Opposition in order to establish a new CEMI. The draft document which came from that meeting prohibited sub-prefects, all of them then the President's men, becoming chairmen of local CEMI committees, and reduced the number of members of the co-ordinating commission from 70 to 28. These were allotted in the following manner: 11 representatives from the President's supporters, 11 from the opposition, 2 from the centre parties, 2 from the independent parties and 2 from the government.
Ange Patassé, however, unilaterally changed the contents of the document when it arrived on his desk for his signature. He allotted 9 places to the President's supporters, 9 to the Opposition, 2 to the centre parties, 2 to the independent parties and 5 to the government. The Opposition were sure that this modification would benefit only the Chief of State, so they decided to have nothing more to do with organising the presidential elections - at least not for the time being, so as not to lend support to what looked like being a travesty of an election.
The financial backers and Prime Minister George Anicet Dologuélé called a meeting during which the Opposition demanded and obtained the setting up of committees to control the sub-prefects. These committees were made up of (in equal proportion), representatives of the President's supporters and of the Opposition, supervised by international observers. The Decree appointing the members of the CEMI's co-ordinating committee was finally made public and they took the Oath of Office on 20 May 1999.
Even though the electoral campaign hasn't officially started, candidate Ange Patassé and his MLPC have already hit the campaign trail. "All the President's men" make full use of "company" (i.e. official government) vehicles and parade caps and T-shirts with the governing-party logos and slogans, criss-crossing the country to convince the village chiefs, personalities and charismatic leaders to vote for Patassé. Yet at the same time, civil servants, senior citizens and those receiving scholarships have not received their salaries, pensions and bursaries owing them. Also, the party in power has bought 10,000 bicycles, 3,500 motorcycles and more than 50 cars for the campaign.
The electoral campaign has been slow to get off the ground, and RCA's population are increasingly concerned about two issues: MINURCA (whose mandate finishes in November this year) should stay; there must always be a Head of State in Office. However, care must be taken to respect the duration of the presidential mandate (and so to avoid a situation similar to that of Congo-Brazzaville with Lissouba).
Since the three armed revolts which shook the RCA in 1996-1997, President Patassé, who accuses the French of being the instigators of these crises, has decided to ally himself with Gaddafi (President of Libya), Déby (President of Chad) and Kabila (President of Congo RDC.
French-RCA relations have become stormy because of the advanced departure (caused by Patassé) of the French troops based at Bouar (in the west of the country) at the Beal camp and at Escadrille in Bangui. More recently, the MLCP regime, via the Presidential security services, forbade the ambassador of France, Mr. Jean Marc Simon, to go to Berberati, in the company of Mr. Nakombo, a Member of Parliament and director of the RCA Tobacco Company CETAC. The ambassador wanted to visit projects financed by the French Development Agency but the authorities saw this was an ideal opportunity to destabilise Franco-RCA relations and described the proposed visit as "unfriendly".
On 11 May 1999, Father Yves Pesquieux, rector of St. Mark's Major Seminary in Bimbo, on his return from France, was arrested at the airport and kept in police custody. People say that Patassé and his partisans, convinced that this priest is a cousin of President Chirac, tried to convince public opinion that he is in fact a general in disguise and the brain behind a plot which originated at the Elysée with the aim of cutting short their reign. The Archbishop of Bangui and the Apostolic Nuncio had to exert some pressure to have him released.
The Head of State is toying with the idea of remaining forever in power through force, should he lose the elections. Hence, after the second mutiny, he decided to import arms and munitions, bring foreign troops into the country and recruit and train unconventional forces in spite of MINURCA's presence. Furthermore, he refuses to comply with the required demands for the continuance of the United Nations' mission He wants them to leave the country and give him free rein to put into operation his machiavellian plan.
There is a feeling of uneasiness, particularly over his many visits to Libya to ask for and eventually to buy military vehicles and arms. One should also remember that Patassé has signed various military pacts with Egypt, Senegal, Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Congo RDC and Libya. These agreements, however, have not been ratified by the National Assembly, as required by the 1995 Constitution.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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