Normal activities have resumed in Bangui since the beginning of the week, with banks and shops reopening, taxis, minibuses and motorcycle taxis working again. But the Central African Republic capital remains haunted by inter-communal violence that paralyzed it at the end of last month, leaving 61 people dead and more than 300 injured according to the government.<\/p>\n
This violence broke out on September 26 after the murder of a Moslem motorcycle taxi driver. Angry demonstrators put up roadblocks in the city, calling for the departure of transitional president Catherine Samba-Panza. Returning early from New York where she was attending the 70th UN General Assembly, Samba-Panza said there had been an attempted coup, and declared three days of national mourning.<\/p>\n
Given the situation, the constitutional referendum planned for October 4 did not take place. It was meant to kick off a series of elections to end the two-year transition. No new date has yet been announced for the referendum, nor for legislative and presidential elections scheduled for next Sunday, October 18.<\/p>\n
The National Elections Authority (ANE) has not yet made any official statement. \u201cAt the ANE, nothing has yet been decided,\u201d\u00a0the authority\u2019s spokeswoman Fran\u00e7oise Sackanot told Radio Ndeke Luka. \u201cThis crisis has changed everything. We are waiting to see the outcome of national consultations before drawing up a new calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CAR\u2019s main partners (France, the European Union, United States and African Union) had on June 16 approved the calendar proposed by the elections strategy committee. Legislative and presidential elections were to take place on October 18, with a possible second round on November 22. Before that, a constitutional referendum was supposed to take place on October 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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On the eve of the planned referendum date, the electoral census launched in July was still not finished, especially in zones still held by militia. The census of Central African refugees in neighbouring countries was finished for the most part, but the ANE had still not published the entire electoral list. Central Africans who fled their country were authorized to vote in August, following a heated debate.<\/p>\n
Aware that the international community wants elections before the end of the year, ANE President Dieudonn\u00e9 Kombo spoke in favour of \u201csome slippage\u201d in the electoral calendar. He carefully avoided saying elections should be \u201cpostponed\u201d, something many politicians and civil society leaders are saying but which France and the United Nations do not want to hear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elections also cost money. Despite some efforts, the international community still needs to provide more funds. The total budget (revised downward) is estimated at about 10 billion CFA francs (about 15 million Euros), and is far from covered.<\/p>\n
But the main donors, including the United States, are sticking to their position. \u201cThe recent events in Bangui have not had much impact on election preparations,\u201d Charg\u00e9 d'Affaires at the US embassy in Bangui David Brown told Radio Ndeke Luka. \u201cIt is clear that more than 1.4 million Central Africans have already registered to vote, which shows they want elections. So we will continue to support this process so that the elections can be held on time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Returning from New York, transition President Catherine Samba-Panza announced wide consultations with the \u201cvital Forces of the Nation\u201d to find solutions, although she did not announce a date. She stressed the need to disarm the militia, thus reflecting something wanted by most Central Africans who criticize the foreign forces in CAR for not fully playing their role. \u201cThe President and her office are working on these consultations, as is my office,\u201d transition Prime Minister Mahamat Kamoun told Radio Ndeke Luka. \u201cWe are going to look at the proposals and decide the date and manner of this much- needed dialogue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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So will this be another \u201cNational Forum\u201d like the one held in Bangui in May? In any case, the political class is calling for inclusive dialogue on the electoral calendar. \u201cOn the issue of the election process, everyone needs to contribute,\u201d says Gina Sanz\u00e9, spokesperson for the Coordination of political parties and associations, which groups some 30 political entities. \u201cThe President needs to put inclusivity first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The KNK party of former president Fran\u00e7ois Boziz\u00e9 thinks this inclusive dialogue should take place in Brazzaville, under the auspices of the international mediator, Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso. In a statement, the KNK slammed the \u201chardened determination\u201d of the international community and the transition authorities to \u201cexclude the main players in the Central African crisis, namely former heads of State Fran\u00e7ois Boziz\u00e9 Yangouvonda and Michel Djotodia\u201d, both of whom are in exile. The KNK remains active in Bangui despite the fact that Boziz\u00e9 is out of the country.<\/p>\n
Could it be that the two ex-presidents fomented the latest violence in Bangui, as suggested by the transition government, to regain a voice in the process?<\/p>\n
The Central African Republic has been almost constantly unstable since its independence from France in 1960. For more than two years it has been prey to an unprecedented crisis marked by widespread, grave abuses on a scale never seen in the country before.<\/p>\n
Fran\u00e7ois Boziz\u00e9 was ousted in March 2013 by Seleka rebels who bled the country for 10 months. The Seleka, a disparate coalition that was hard to control, in turn lost power as transition president Michel Djotodia was forced to step down under international pressure on January 10, 2014. Another militia, the Anti-balaka which started as civil defence, almost immediately started spreading more terror in the country, targeting attacks particularly at Moslems.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Normal activities have resumed in Bangui since the beginning of the week, with banks and shops reopening, taxis, minibuses and motorcycle taxis working again. But the Central African Republic capital remains haunted by inter-communal violence that paralyzed it at the end of last month, leaving 61 people dead and more than 300 injured according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":66194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2165],"class_list":["post-2447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reconciliation","ji_location-central-african-republic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n