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Central African Republic Patassé between the devil and the deep blue sea |
POLITICS
Since President Ange Félix Patassé’s re-election, the Central African Republic
(CAR)
has gone through an acute socio-political and economic crisis
This crisis is characterized by multiple politico-financial scandals; tax evasions and smuggling; on-going arrears in the payment of salaries (some for 14 months), pensions (some for 24 months), and scholarships (some for 18 months); and a petrol crisis. There’s been a complete absence of any dialogue between the authorities and the people, and general insecurity has spread through all the regions. This situation results in serious consequences for the country’s political and socio-economical life.
Re: politics
First of all, there’s a crisis within the political party holding power, the Liberation Movement of the Central African People (MLPC). It started with President Patassé’s re-election and his decision to re-appoint his nephew, Anicet Georges Dologuélé, as prime minister, and to no longer appoint Members of Parliament from his own party to the cabinet. Needless to say, the MLPC‘s political bureau and the MLPC‘s Members of Parliament did not take very kindly to these measures which did nothing to serve their own interests. They are accusing President Patassé of taking all the powers of state to benefit members of his own tribal family; Parliament’s Speaker is also a member of the same tribal family.
Then there’s the question of relations between the government and the Opposition which have also become somewhat tempestuous. In the December 1998 elections, seeing the misery which the population were having to live in, the Opposition tabled a «no-confidence» motion against the MLPC, which then lost its majority in Parliament. Since that time, the regime in power has been luring away Opposition Members so that it can have a parliamentary majority.
President Patassé’s victory in the 19 September 1999 presidential election which he won with 51.63% of votes cast, has been hotly contested by the Opposition, who have asked that the results be cancelled because of massive fraud. Since then, the governing party has been doing its best to muzzle the Opposition, by: Stopping it from gaining access to the state-run media; prohibiting political demonstrations; preventing political and trade union leaders from leaving the country; making opposition party leaders redundant and assigning them elsewhere.
Last April, Opposition Members tabled a motion of «no confidence» so as to get rid of Prime Minister Dologuélé. They said the government was losing touch with the people, and backed up their motion by accusations such as: Unpaid salaries, pensions and scholarships stretching back for months; the State is losing all its authority; multiple politico-financial scandals; tax and Customs fraud; etc. President Patassé used every possible means to ensure this no-confidence motion was rejected by the MLPC Members and their allies.
At the beginning of June, the CAR experienced a two-months’ petrol crisis which made clear the government’s incompetence. This energy crisis, which had consequences on the national economy, pushed a number of opposition leaders to call for President Patassé’s resignation for failing in his Office as President.
On 28 August, Mr Abdalah Al Senoussi, Libya’s Ambassador to the CAR, was attacked by armed robbers and died two days later. The government said the Opposition was responsible for this murder. The Opposition reacted by pointing out that the government seemed to be completely unable to guarantee security within the country.
Finally, there’s the whole question of President Patassé’s relations with neighbouring countries — Congo-Brazzaville, Congo RDC, and Chad, which are none too good.
Ever since Sassou Nguesso took power again in Congo-Brazzaville, the independent private Press has been pointing out the presence of former President Lissouba’s (ex-Congo-Brazzaville) associates in Bangui, CAR‘s capital, and the fact they are being looked after by the present CAR regime. Patassé says he’s been asked to act as mediator in Congo-Brazzaville’s internal conflict. The Congo-Brazza government denies this.
Relations with Congo RDC are not of the best, either. First of all, CAR‘s territory has been used by the Congolese Armed Forces to attack the rebels of Jean-Pierre Bemba’s Congo Liberation Movement. But after Bemba had captured Géména, Libengué and Zongo, Patassé began to be friendly with him, and received Bemba at Mobaye, 25 kms from Gbadolite. This event was widely reported in the state-run Media.
Recently, the CAR government has obtained a loan of 5 billion CFA francs to help it solve its petrol crisis. The fuel destined for the CAR which had to pas through Kinshasa, was seized by the Congo RDC authorities to support their own war efforts. The Opposition in CAR said that the fact that the fuel had been taken, was a direct result of President Patassé’s haphazard and finicky diplomacy.
As for Chad, relations between Patassé and Chad’s President Idriss Déby have cooled somewhat. According to sources close to the MLPC, when Patassé was a presidential candidate in 1993, he’d asked the Chadian rebel, Moise Ketté, to help him secure the presidency by force, if he should fail in the elections. Since Patassé’s victory, Mr and Mrs Ketté have been Patassé’s «bosom pals». In 1998, the daily newspaper, L’Hirondelle, published a fax originating from a Customs office on the frontier between CAR and Chad. This message alluded to weapons of some kind sent by Mrs Ketté to Bangui. Suffice to say that with another upsurge of rebellion by Moise Ketté, relations between Patassé and Déby are not of the best.
Socio-economy
CAR‘s government has opted for health and education as its priorities. But practically-speaking, there’s been no initiative taken to encourage these two priorities. Three mutinies and the recent petrol crisis have grounded the nation’s economy.
Health: Hospitals and health centres are in permanent need of medicines and medical equipment, and they are unable to provide first aid treatment for those who need it. The nurses, small in number, have to put up with a lot of arrears in the payment of their salaries, together with a confused work situation. Hospital units installed to sell basic medicines to patients at an affordable price, are badly administered. Vaccination programmes, and projects to fight AIDS are no longer subsidized by donors working in the field of development, on account of misappropriation of funds.
Education: In 1994, the government organized a high-powered meeting on Youth and Education. Experts in education and representatives from pupils’ parents and from the government, analyzed what’s going wrong with CAR‘s education system. The government, however, seems to lack the political will to put into practice the recommendations coming from this meeting. Today, you find the situation in which a class has 150 pupils with just one teacher, and the number of classes never increase.
Politics is entering into education. The government has become aware that teachers’ strikes always seem to be followed by the government falling, so only MLPC activists have been appointed to posts of responsibility. Competence, experience and integrity have been sacrificed on the altar of party interests. And so, the education system is slowly dying because its main sponsors have stopped giving financial help on account of bad projects’ management.
Economy: The 1996-1997 military-political crises destroyed what remained of CAR‘s economic structures. The situation was made still worse by President Patassé’s involvement in various commercial activities, in clear violation of the Constitution’s Article 22, which forbids the Head of State from taking part in activities for further remuneration. President Patassé’s relations with mafia networks throughout the world, do not encourage serious businessmen from investing in CAR.
The accumulation of arrears in salaries (over a period of 25 months of which 14 under the MLPC government) does not encourage consumers, and forces firms into bankruptcy. The two-months’ fuel crisis meant the State received less income and made it impossible for the government to pay its debts.
Valued Added Tax (VAT) should have started in all countries belonging to the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) in early July 2000, but has been postponed until January 2001 in order not to upset business people who are struggling on, in spite of the petrol crisis and the difficult economic situation.
The accumulation of arrears in salaries, pensions and scholarships; the slump in the sale of tea and coffee; growing insecurity; the stifling of health and education, are all at the roots of CAR‘s socio-politico crisis. Instead of looking for solutions to the misery in which his people find themselves, President Patassé takes himself off on numerous and costly journeys.
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