CAR government resigns amid strike
A meeting between Bozize and union leaders on
Thursday failed to reach a settlement [AP]
The Central African Republic's prime minister and his
government have resigned amid a general strike by unions demanding the payment
to civil servants of months of salary arrears.
Elie Dote, who became prime minister in 2005, announced his
resignation on Friday as parliament prepared to vote on a censure motion
against him.
A spokesman for Francois Bozize, the country's president,
said: "The president has just received and accepted the resignation of the
prime minister and of all his government.
"According to the prime minister the resignation was in order
to preserve social peace, cohesion and national harmony."
Bozize was expected to name a new prime minister in the
coming days to form a new administration.
The poor former French colony has experienced several coups
and attempted coups in the past decade.
Western diplomats in Bangui said the strike, coupled with the
government's resignation, could trigger a deeper political crisis.
Work stoppage
The Central African Republic's main trade unions launched a
general strike on January 2 to demand that the government pay seven months of
arrears in salaries to civil servants and teachers.
The stoppage has provoked demonstrations in the streets of
the capital, Bangui, by students angry about not being able to attend classes.
The government says it does not have the funds to pay the
salary arrears, and a meeting between Bozize and union leaders on Thursday
failed to reach a settlement.
Bozize seized power in 2003 but then won elections two years
later with support from the unions now staging the stoppage.
The Central African Republic is already facing a humanitarian
emergency in its northwest and northeast, where raids by several armed groups
and counter-attacks by government soldiers have driven nearly 300,000 people
from their homes since 2006.
EU peacekeepers are due to arrive in the country in February.
The peacekeepers, to be deployed into the country's
northeast, are part of a larger EU force that has a UN mandate to protect
civilians in eastern Chad from violence spilling over from Sudan's Darfur
region.
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
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