Central African Republic President Francois Bozize dissolved the government on Sunday, a decree broadcast on national radio said, after pledging to form a unity government at recent peace talks.
While no explanation was given for Sunday’s move, Bozize had promised a new unity government after peace talks aimed at halting a near civil war ended last month.
During a visit to Libreville last week, Bozize had said a government would be formed “very soon,” without providing further details.
The current government led by Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadera was formed in January last year.
The long-delayed dialogue at last month’s 12-day peace talks brought together some 200 representatives of Touadera’s government, opposition, civil society groups and rebel movements. It was aimed at paving the way to ending unrest in the impoverished and landlocked country.
A new “consensus” government should be tasked with “restoring peace and security throughout the country” and “work for genuine and lasting reconciliation among its citizens,” the final report from the talks said.
It admitted that “the many forums for reconciliation and dialogue have not enabled the Central African Republic to be rooted definitively in peace, stability and development, as shown by the insecurity and tragic events that occur in the north of the country.”
A highlight of the conference that brought together the country’s various factions was the return of former president Ange-Felix Patasse after five years in exile in Togo to attend the talks.
Patasse made a striking vow to recognize Bozize, who ousted him in the 2003 coup, rather than call for his removal as some of his opponents have insisted.
“The solution is not to ask you to leave power. It rests mainly in the prospect of bringing the people to democratic, transparent and fair elections in 2010,” he said.
The report recommended the holding of municipal elections this year, followed by presidential and parliamentary polls next year.
It also called for auditing several economic sectors, disarming former combatants and creating a truth and reconciliation commission.
One of the world’s poorest countries, the Central African Republic has been racked for years by insecurity with rebel groups, bandits and government troops blamed for widespread criminal activity.
Following mediation efforts by Gabon, the government signed four peace accords with rebel groups between February 2007 and June last year.
Bozize first came to power in 2003 when as armed forces chief of staff he ousted the increasingly unpopular elected president Patasse after years of political turmoil and economic woes.
Once in power Bozize found the state coffers were virtually empty and began anti-corruption measures.
In May 2005, he won an election for president after overseeing a political transition.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS